Patrick Colbeck

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Judicially Authorized Drop Boxes Not Provided in Act 77; Administrative Overreach Compounded Private Funding Disparity (PA)

Election Operations Bias, Established Fact, Financial Influence, Pennsylvania, United States /

Established Fact On September 17, 2020, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that county boards could accept hand-delivered mail-in ballots at locations other than official offices — including drop boxes — a provision absent from Act 77 as enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature. This judicial modification, combined with CTCL’s private funding of drop box infrastructure concentrated

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Judicially Authorized Drop Boxes Not Provided in Act 77; Administrative Overreach Compounded Private Funding Disparity (PA) Read More »

Extreme Geographic and Per-Voter Drop Box Density Disparity Creating Two-Tiered Voter Access (PA)

Election Operations Bias, Established Fact, Featured, Financial Influence, Pennsylvania, United States /

Established Fact CTCL’s more than $22.5 million investment in Pennsylvania created a constitutionally suspect two-tiered system of voter access. In heavily Democratic Delaware County, private funding established 50 drop boxes — one for every 3.7 square miles and one for every approximately 8,500 registered voters. Across the 56 counties carried by Donald Trump in 2016,

Extreme Geographic and Per-Voter Drop Box Density Disparity Creating Two-Tiered Voter Access (PA) Read More »

CTCL Grant Funding Concentrated in 2016-Clinton Jurisdictions; Rural Areas Excluded (MI)

Election Operations Bias, Established Fact, Financial Influence, Michigan, United States /

Established Fact Of Michigan’s 135 CTCL grant recipients above the $5,000 minimum, 90 were jurisdictions won by Joe Biden in 2020 — receiving $14.6 million, or 86 percent of all CTCL funds distributed in the state — while the 45 Trump-plurality recipients received just 14 percent. The largest awards went to urban centers with strong

CTCL Grant Funding Concentrated in 2016-Clinton Jurisdictions; Rural Areas Excluded (MI) Read More »

Undercapitalized Drop Box Surveillance in CTCL-Funded Jurisdictions (MI)

Election Operations Bias, Established Fact, Financial Influence, Michigan, Muskegon, Muskegon County, United States /

Established Fact Muskegon County received a CTCL grant that was used, in part, for voting equipment and election infrastructure deployment in the 2020 general election. The absence of surveillance coverage — particularly given Michigan law’s pre-October 2020 exemption of earlier-installed drop boxes from video monitoring requirements — was significant because Muskegon County was simultaneously the

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Unmonitored 24/7 Drop Box Network Deployed Without Chain-of-Custody Logs; FOIA Evasion (MI)

Detroit, Election Operations Bias, Established Fact, Financial Influence, Michigan, United States, Wayne County /

Established Fact A $7.4 million CTCL grant funded Detroit’s deployment of 30 drop boxes across the city for the 2020 general election. Observers documented that absentee ballots were transported from these drop boxes and satellite centers to the Detroit Department of Elections and then onward to the TCF Center in large commercial Penske rental trucks

Unmonitored 24/7 Drop Box Network Deployed Without Chain-of-Custody Logs; FOIA Evasion (MI) Read More »

Systemic Failure to Preserve Drop Box-Related Ballot Images and Authentication Files (GA)

Election Operations Bias, Established Fact, Financial Influence, Georgia, United States /

Established Fact The Office of Special Counsel (OSC), led by former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman and authorized by the Wisconsin State Assembly, formally concluded in its Second Interim Investigative Report (March 1, 2022) that CTCL’s $8,800,000 grant program with the Zuckerberg 5 — Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha, and Green Bay — “facially violates

Systemic Failure to Preserve Drop Box-Related Ballot Images and Authentication Files (GA) Read More »

CTCL Grant Scheme Found to Facially Violate Wisconsin Election Bribery Statute (WI)

Brown County, Dane County, Election Operations Bias, Established Fact, Financial Influence, Green Bay, Kenosha, Kenosha County, Madison, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Racine County, United States, Wisconsin /

Established Fact The Office of Special Counsel (OSC), led by former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman and authorized by the Wisconsin State Assembly, formally concluded in its Second Interim Investigative Report (March 1, 2022) that CTCL’s $8,800,000 grant program with the Zuckerberg 5 — Milwaukee, Madison, Racine, Kenosha, and Green Bay — “facially violates

CTCL Grant Scheme Found to Facially Violate Wisconsin Election Bribery Statute (WI) Read More »

Pennsylvania Governor Withholds CARES Act Funds from Lebanon County (PA)

Disputed Fact, Election Operations Bias, Financial Influence, Pennsylvania, United States /

Disputed Fact On September 2, 2020, the Pennsylvania Department of State broadcast a communication to all county commissioners announcing that CTCL had made its grant program available to all local election jurisdictions nationally — a notice that came one day after Zuckerberg and Chan publicly announced their $250 million donation to CTCL. Emails obtained under

Pennsylvania Governor Withholds CARES Act Funds from Lebanon County (PA) Read More »

Former State Elections Director Hired as Private CTCL-Funded Advisor to Largest City (MI)

Detroit, Election Operations Bias, Established Fact, Financial Influence, Michigan, United States, Wayne County /

Established Fact Detroit’s CTCL-funded partnership with the Michigan Secretary of State included the engagement of Christopher Thomas — former Michigan Bureau of Elections Director and 40-year state elections official under both Republican and Democratic administrations — as a senior advisor to Detroit City Clerk Janice Winfrey from September 3 through December 12, 2020. Thomas, a

Former State Elections Director Hired as Private CTCL-Funded Advisor to Largest City (MI) Read More »

Pennsylvania Department of State Used Official Communications to Direct Counties to CTCL Grants (PA)

Election Operations Bias, Established Fact, Financial Influence, Pennsylvania, United States /

Established Fact On September 2, 2020, the Pennsylvania Department of State issued a broadcast communication to all county commissioners announcing that CTCL had made its grant program available to all local election jurisdictions nationally — a communication that came one day after Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan publicly announced a $250 million donation to CTCL

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