Daily Digest for December 5, 2020 Posted at 7:45 a.m. by Michael Olson |
Good morning. Minnesota’s election directors say private money fueled by donations from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg helped them successfully execute an election threatened by safety concerns amid the coronavirus pandemic, an avalanche of early arriving ballots, and President Donald Trump’s repeated attempts to undermine the legitimacy of voting by mail.
The Chicago-based nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life delivered grants to election offices in more than 2,500 jurisdictions across the country — including 28 Minnesota cities and counties.
Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, gave $350 million to the group because they said they wanted a safe and secure election during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Conservative groups allied with Trump in Minnesota and across the country have criticized the grants. The Minnesota Voters Alliance sued to prevent Minneapolis from spending the grant money. The group alleged that the nonprofit was aiming to boost Democratic voter turnout for Joe Biden despite grant money also going to areas that supported Trump in 2016. In October, a federal judge denied the group’s request to forbid Minneapolis from spending its grant.
While election officers across the country said the grants helped them avert an election meltdown, some observers worry about relying on private money to fund elections in the future. For example, Zuckerberg may be trying to help his image at a time when Facebook is being criticized for how it handles misinformation.
Minnesota’s Biden electors pledge to stay on script Minnesota’s past brushes with Electoral College drama are a big reason why this year will probably lack it.
In 2004, a Democratic elector voted for the party’s vice presidential nominee over the presidential nominee in what is believed to be just a mix-up of two men named John (Kerry, the presidential candidate, and Edwards, the running mate). State lawmakers changed Minnesota law to make clear that the electors are bound by the popular vote outcome to head off future mishaps.
That law came into play four years ago when an elector bypassed Minnesota victor Hillary Clinton for her primary rival, Bernie Sanders.
That elector was immediately removed and an alternate cast a vote for Clinton in his place.
Coincidentally, the wayward elector is back this year. Muhammad Abdurrahman said in 2016 that he disagreed with Minnesota’s law binding electors when he went off script, but he told an MPR News producer last week that he would back the party ticket this time.
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