Mark Zuckerberg donates $100M more to help election offices

DENVER >> Fa c e b o o k founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, on Tuesday donated an additional $100 million to helping local election offices prepare for November even as some conservatives are stepping up their efforts to stop the funds from being used.

The contribution brings the total funding for the election from Zuckerberg and Chan to $400 million — the same amount that Congress allocated in March to help fund election offices as they dealt with the difficulties of adapting to new voting behavior during the coronavirus pandemic. Election experts had estimated it could cost $4 billion to make all the changes, but Senate Republicans never acted on a relief bill from the Democratic- controlled House that included $3.6 billion to help voting officials.

Zuckerberg and Chan stepped into the gap initially in September, with a $300 million donation. That came after other donors had already been contributing to the nonprofit that is receiving most of the Facebook founder’s contributions, the Chicago- based Center for Technology and Civic Life.

“We’ve seen massive interest in the COVID-19 Response Grant program over the last month from over 2,100 election officials who are seeking funding to ensure safe, health election options for voters in every corner of the country,” said Tiana Epps-Johnson, executive director of the Center for Technology and Civic Life.

The money will pay for protective equipment to prevent spread of the coronavirus at polling sites, drive-thru voting locations, equipment to process mail ballots and more.