Established Fact
Despite CTCL grants being publicly marketed as “COVID-19 Response Grants,” Fulton, Cobb, and DeKalb counties — the three largest recipients in Georgia — spent only approximately 1.3 percent of their CTCL grants on personal protective equipment. The remaining funds were applied to operational expenditures including administrative salaries, laptop computers, vehicle rentals, attorney fees, and mail-in ballot processing infrastructure. CTCL distributed approximately $45 million in grants to Georgia election offices across the 2020 general election and January 2021 Senate runoff cycle; the grants were concentrated in Biden-won counties, which received approximately four times the per-voter funding of Trump-won counties.<sup>2,3</sup> Separately, the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office received approximately $5.6 million from the Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR), funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, for nonpartisan voter outreach, including television advertising. A transparency lawsuit filed in November 2021 by Greater Georgia, led by former Senator Kelly Loeffler, sought further public accounting of how the SOS grant was administered.
Citations
Foundation for Government Accountability, “Zuckerbucks in Georgia” (May 24, 2021), as cited in Imprimis, Hillsdale College, Vol. 50, No. 10 (October 2021): “The three Georgia counties that received the most money spent only 1.3 percent of it on personal protective equipment. The rest was spent on salaries, laptops, vehicle rentals, attorney fees for public records requests, mail-in balloting, and other measures.” https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Imprimis_Oct_10-21_8pgWEB.pdf
Foundation for Government Accountability, “Where Zuckerbucks Actually Went During the 2020 Election” (citing national “<1% on PPE” figure and CTCL distribution data). https://thefga.org/blog/zuckerbucks-2020-election/. Note: The FGA blog post establishes the national PPE figure; the Georgia-specific 1.3% figure is from the separate FGA Georgia analysis cited in Footnote 1.
Capital Research Center, “Shining a Light on Zuck Bucks in the 2020 Battleground States” (updated May 28, 2024): total CTCL grants to Georgia ~$45 million per CTCL’s disclosed Form 990 data; Biden-won counties received $5.33/registered voter vs. $1.41/registered voter for Trump-won counties. https://capitalresearch.org/article/shining-a-light-on-zuck-bucks-in-key-states/
Center for Election Innovation and Research, 2020 Voter Education Grant Program (published 2021) — Georgia received approximately $5.6 million; funds used for voter outreach including television advertising. https://electioninnovation.org/research/ceir-2020-voter-education-grant-program/. Confirmed by Politifact fact-check, Amy Sherman, May 2022: “In Georgia, the money was spent on TV ads.” https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/may/19/jody-hice/georgia-race-election-denier-distorts-brad-raffens/
Greater Georgia sues for transparency on Zuckerberg’s $5.6M …: https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/greater-georgia-sues-zuckerbergs-donation-to-raffensperger-in-2020-election | FOX 5 Atlanta