Established Fact
CTCL distributed approximately $5.1 million across Arizona jurisdictions for the 2020 election, with the vast majority flowing to counties carried by Joe Biden. Biden-won counties received approximately $3.9 million — roughly 75% of all CTCL grants in the state — while Trump-won counties received just under $671,000, or approximately 13% of the total. Maricopa County, the state’s largest and most populous, received $1.84 million. In 2021, the Arizona State Senate subpoenaed Maricopa County for records relating to all 2.1 million ballots cast in the county, initiating a months-long review that identified concerns about chain-of-custody procedures, ballot handling, and documentation of ballot transfers from drop boxes and vote centers to central tabulators.
Citations
Capital Research Center, Parker Thayer and Hayden Ludwig, “Shining a Light on Zuck Bucks in the 2020 Battleground States” (updated May 28, 2024): “Our estimate: $5 million… Their disclosed data: $5.1 million.” Available at https://capitalresearch.org/article/shining-a-light-on-zuck-bucks-in-key-states/. The Foundation for Government Accountability brief (March 12, 2021) independently calculates $5,046,389 as a projected minimum based on public records and APM Reports data. Available at https://thefga.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Arizona-Zuckerbucks-brief-3-12-21.pdf
Capital Research Center, supra fn. 1: “Biden-carried counties received $3.9 million, 75.5 percent of all CTCL grants to the Grand Canyon state. In contrast, CTCL gave grants to 4 of the counties Trump won. Trump counties received just under $671,000, or 13 percent of all CTCL grants statewide.” Available at https://capitalresearch.org/article/shining-a-light-on-zuck-bucks-in-key-states/. See also FGA brief, p. 2–3: “a large share of that money was spent in counties carried by President Biden” and “in the four Biden-carried counties that took Zuckerbucks” (Apache, Coconino, Maricopa, Pima). Available at https://thefga.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Arizona-Zuckerbucks-brief-3-12-21.pd
Capital Research Center, supra fn. 1: “Maricopa received $1.84 million from CTCL. Critically, only one county in Arizona flipped in 2020: Maricopa County… which broke for Biden after Trump won it in 2016.” Available at https://capitalresearch.org/article/shining-a-light-on-zuck-bucks-in-key-states/. See also underlying data: Capital Research Center, CTCL Grants 2020 AZ-NV Spreadsheet, https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/CTCL-Grants-2020-AZ-NV_fixed.xlsxhttps://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/CTCL-Grants-2020-AZ-NV_fixed.xlsx
The Arizona Senate subpoenaed Maricopa County in 2021 for records relating to all 2.1 million ballots cast in the county’s 2020 general election. See ProPublica (Mar. 12, 2026): “The Arizona audit began in April 2021, after the Senate’s Republican leadership subpoenaed Maricopa County for scans of all 2.1 million ballots.” Available at https://www.propublica.org/article/maricopa-county-arizona-election-records-fbi. The subsequent review identified concerns about chain-of-custody procedures for ballot handling; the States United Democracy Center noted that “establishing adequate standards of review, chain of custody procedures, training, communication, and transparency for 2.1 million ballots requires thoughtful planning and organization.” Available at https://statesunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/6.22.21-SUDC-Report-re-Cyber-Ninjas-Review-FINAL.pdf.
Verity Vote (Jan. 25, 2022) claims that “Maricopa County officials violated Arizona law and do not have the required chain of custody for at least 740,000 ballots” relating to the retrieval of early voting ballots from vote centers and drop box locations. Available at https://verityvote.us/maricopa-dropbox-chain-of-custody/ . Significant caveat: Verity Vote is a partisan advocacy organization; its full report is not publicly available and its methodology is not disclosed. The Arizona Attorney General’s Special Investigations Section reviewed Verity Vote’s claims and concluded that Verity Vote “did not have any evidence of any ballot boxes or their contents being compromised.” See AZ AG Special Investigations Section, 2020 General Election Investigation Summary, available at https://www.scribd.com/document/627328254/Election-Review-Summary.
CTCL Grants 2020 AZ-NV Spreadsheet: https://capitalresearch.org/app/uploads/CTCL-Grants-2020-AZ-NV_fixed.xlsx | Capital Research Center
How “Zuckerbucks” Infiltrated Arizona Elections: https://thefga.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Arizona-Zuckerbucks-brief-3-12-21.pdf | Foundation for Government Accountability