Reasonable Inference
Jocelyn Benson founded the Michigan Center for Election Law and Administration (MCELA), a nonprofit that received no material revenue until September 2020, when it was awarded an $11.9 million grant from CEIR — the Zuckerberg-funded Center for Election Innovation and Research — nominally for “voter education.” MCELA directed 99% of those funds — $11.9 million — to two Democratic political consulting firms: Waterfront Strategies ($9.8 million), a subsidiary of GMMB, the largest Democratic consulting firm in the United States, and Alper Strategies ($2.1 million), founded by former DNC political director Jill Alper — both engaged for “media strategy and purchase.” The resulting campaign, run in collaboration with Benson’s Secretary of State office, produced television and radio ads, targeted mailings to active registered voters about mail ballot procedures, and text message campaigns. A subsequent federal civil complaint alleged that the text message contact information was provided by Waterfront Strategies and Alper Strategies and was directed to registered Democrats, though that allegation remains at the pleading stage.
Citations
Center for Election Innovation and Research (CEIR), “2020 Voter Education Grant Program Report” (Mar. 2021), available at https://electioninnovation.org/wp-content/uploads/CEIR-2020-Voter-Education-Grant-Program-Report.pdf (listing Michigan’s net grant amount as $11,939,365, used for “a statewide messaging campaign” including “targeted mailings to engage voters” about voting deadlines and mail ballot procedures, and “targeted mailings” to those “who had not yet returned their mail ballot”). “See also” InfluenceWatch, “The Michigan Center for Election Law and Administration”, https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/the-michigan-center-for-election-law-and-administration/ (noting MCELA “only has one publicly available tax record in the year 2020 because its revenues had not surpassed the $50,000” threshold for full IRS disclosure in prior years, and that it received $12,040,000 from CEIR in September 2020). MCELA was founded in 2008 by Jocelyn Benson, who served as its president until approximately 2018-19 and who was serving as Michigan Secretary of State at the time of the grant; MCELA’s 2020 president simultaneously served as Benson’s director of special projects for the Secretary of State’s office.
MCELA Form 990 (filed May 2021), as reported in: (a) Ashley Oliver, “Zuckerberg-Funded Group Gave $11.8M to Democrat Firms for ‘Nonpartisan Voter Education’“, Breitbart (Aug. 6, 2021), available at https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/08/06/zuckerberg-funded-group-gave-11-8m-to-democrat-consulting-firms-for-nonpartisan-voter-education-in-michigan/ (“Tax form filed in May 2021… revealed the MCELA directed 99 percent of the $12 million it received from CEIR to two Democrat-aligned consulting companies”); (b) “Understanding and Examining the Political Activities of Tax-Exempt Organizations”, Staff Report, H. Comm. on Ways and Means, 118th Cong. (Aug. 14, 2023), at [relevant page], available at https://waysandmeans.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/UPDATED-RFI-on-501c3-and-c4-Activities-FINAL.docx87.pdf (“The Michigan Center for Election Law and Administration, which in 2020 received an $11.9 million grant from CEIR, reported paying $9.8 million to Waterfront Strategies and $2.1 million to Alper Strategies LLC for media strategy services. Waterfront Strategies is the ad-[buying subsidiary of GMMB]”). Waterfront Strategies is a subsidiary of GMMB Consulting, described as the largest Democratic consulting firm in the United States; Alper Strategies was founded by Jill Alper, former political director of the Democratic National Committee. “See” InfluenceWatch. A federal civil complaint subsequently alleged that “targeted text messages were sent to registered Democrats and the contact information was provided by Waterfront Strategies and Alper Strategies.” See Complaint, “[Wisconsin plaintiff]” v. “Becker et al.”, No. 3:24-cv-00755-wmc (W.D. Wis. Oct. 28, 2024), ¶ 87, retrieved from https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/1-2024-10-28-Complaint.pdf .