WSJ Writers: More States Should Ban Private Funding In Elections

There are two authors at the Wall Street JournalArguments are that states need to ban private financing of elections.

Joe Horvath and Tarren Bragdon, presidents and CEOs, and state affairs director at Foundation for Government Accountability respectively, claimed that private funding was causing harm to local and national elections.

Bragdon, Horvath are concerned about how private donors such as Facebook can influence voters.

Eleven states have restricted or prohibited private funding, including Arizona and Florida. Meanwhile, North Carolina, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin have vetoed bans–and the writers said this is a big problem.

“The Democratic governors of these states were wrong to issue vetoes,” the writers argued. “Imagine private funding of more police stops, but only in certain neighborhoods, or private funding for tax departments to conduct more audits on certain business types or in certain ZIP Codes. Surely no state would let that happen, so why would they allow it for elections, the cornerstone of democracy?”

Mark Zuckerberg and wife, Susan, donated $400 Million through the Center for Tech and Civic Life. This money went to more than 2,500 counties throughout 47 states and District of Columbia. The Center said its goal is to make sure its elections are “safe and reliable,” but the funds overwhelmingly went to areas dominated by Biden and other Democrats.

According to the writers, more states should ban private financing by 2022.

“More states should ban private funding for elections in their 2022 legislative sessions,” the writers concluded. “Opponents will call this policy fear-mongering and claim that attempts to protect elections are what really undermine the public’s trust. Yet the point isn’t to relitigate the last election, and this dismissive attitude ignores legitimate concerns about private money spent by public bureaucracies in ways that influence voters. As 2020 proved, such funding isn’t transparent, it isn’t accountable, and it isn’t conducive to fair elections.”