Established Fact
CTCL distributed approximately $25 million to Pennsylvania jurisdictions for the 2020 election, with a single grant of $10,016,074 going to Philadelphia alone — a city that delivered over 80 percent of its votes to the Democratic presidential candidate. The geographic distribution of the resulting election infrastructure was strikingly asymmetric. In heavily Democratic Delaware County, where a $2.2 million CTCL grant funded the deployment of approximately 50 drop boxes across a county of 184 square miles, voters had access to roughly one drop box per four square miles. According to the Amistad Project’s analysis of the statewide distribution, in the 59 Pennsylvania counties that had voted for Donald Trump in 2016, there was an estimated one drop box per 1,100 square miles — a ratio approximately 275 times less dense than Delaware County’s. Capital Research Center’s analysis of CTCL’s own disclosed data found that over 83 percent of all CTCL funds in Pennsylvania — roughly $20.8 million — went to counties that Biden carried, while the 12 Trump counties that received any CTCL funding received just 7 percent of the statewide total. The Foundation for Government Accountability documented that Democrat-leaning counties in southeast Pennsylvania were invited to apply for grant funding before Republican-leaning counties were even made aware the grants were available. The resulting disparity in election infrastructure — drop boxes, satellite offices, and mail ballot processing capacity — was concentrated in the state’s most heavily Democratic population centers while rural Republican counties received a fraction of the support.
Citations
Capital Research Center, “UPDATED: Shining a Light on Zuck Bucks in the 2020 Battleground States” (documenting Pennsylvania total of $25M per CTCL disclosed data; $20.8M to Biden counties; per capita grant comparisons): https://capitalresearch.org/article/shining-a-light-on-zuck-bucks-in-key-states/
Philadelphia CTCL Grant Agreement (Execution Copy, Aug. 19, 2020) (documenting grant amount of $10,016,074; signed agreement specifying 15 drop boxes, 15 satellite election offices, mail processing equipment, poll-worker hazard pay): https://www.influencewatch.org/app/uploads/2021/01/Center-for-Tech-and-Civic-Life-gives-10-million-grant-to-Philadelphia-for-election-aid.pdf
Foundation for Government Accountability, “How ‘Zuckerbucks’ Infiltrated Pennsylvania’s 2020 Election” (March 16, 2021) (p. 3 table: Delaware County grant $2,200,000; p. 5, 7: Delaware County Council accepted grant August 19, 2020 “to place 50 drop boxes before the PA Supreme Court ruled on legality”; Councilwoman Christine Reuther quoted: private funds enabled drop boxes): https://thefga.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Pennsylvania-Zuckerbucks-brief-3-16-21.pdf
Delaware County, Pennsylvania official Ballot Drop Box page (current county-administered drop box program; 2020 program consisted of approximately 50 locations county-wide per FGA documentation): https://delcopa.gov/vote/ballot-drop-box
Amistad Project of the Thomas More Society, press release (Nov. 21, 2020): “In Delaware County, a suburb of Philadelphia, there was one drop box every four square miles. In the 59 Pennsylvania counties that Donald Trump won in 2016, there was one drop box every 1,100 square miles.” (Note: this figure originates from the Amistad Project’s pre-litigation factual summary; the underlying county-level drop box count was not independently tabulated in retrieved primary sources): https://www.wispolitics.com/2020/amistad-project-challenges-presidential-election-results-with-planned-lawsuits-in-six-swing-states/
Capital Research Center, “UPDATED: Shining a Light on Zuck Bucks in the 2020 Battleground States” (“Together, these 10 [Biden] counties received $20.8 million, or over 83 percent of all CTCL grants to Pennsylvania. In contrast, CTCL gave grants to 12 of the 54 counties Trump won statewide. These 12 counties received just $1.73 million, a mere 7 percent of all CTCL funds in the Keystone state.”): https://capitalresearch.org/article/shining-a-light-on-zuck-bucks-in-key-states/
“‘Blue’ Southeast PA Counties Had Head Start on Election Grants” (June 7, 2021) (documenting that Delaware County, Chester County, and Philadelphia applied for and received grants in July–August 2020 via Pennsylvania Department of State outreach, before other counties were informed grants were available; per capita comparisons: Philadelphia $8.87/voter vs. Luzerne $0.78/voter; Chester $6.57/voter): https://broadandliberty.com/2021/06/07/blue-southeast-pa-counties-had-head-start-on-election-grants/ | Broad Liberty