Louisiana’s legal efforts to prevent the private funding of local election offices is back on track in the wake of the state Supreme Court’s 4-3 decision not to review an appellate court opinion allowing the state attorney’s lawsuit to go to trial.
Louisiana’s high court on June 28 turned down a request from the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) to review and dismiss Attorney General Jeff Landry’s lawsuit, which seeks to block the Mark Zuckerberg-funded group from providing financial support to local election supervisors. The decision clears the way for a trial court to take up the issue.
Landry characterizes the nonprofit CTCL’s efforts as an attempt to rig Louisiana’s election system. CTCL has provided more than $1.1 million in grants to Louisiana election officials to improve their operations, according to the nonprofit Capital Research Center, but critics contend the funding often comes with strings attached and aims to drive up absentee voter turnout in urban areas, thereby favoring Democrats over Republicans.
Last year, the Republican-dominated Louisiana Legislature passed a bill to prohibit the use of private donations by state or local officials overseeing elections, but that measure was vetoed by Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat. A similar bill died in the state Senate this year.
CTCL did not respond to a request for comment, but the Thomas More Society, which has been monitoring CTCL activities in many states, sees Louisiana’s legal arguments as credible.
“I’m optimistic that Louisiana courts will find that the CTCL intervention is not legally authorized,” the society’s special counsel, Erick Kaaral, told the Louisiana Record. “... Our election system was ambushed by billionaires, and they’ve had a huge influence.”
Since the general election in 2020, 21 states have enacted laws banning the injection of private money into state and local election offices, according to Kaaral. These include large-population states such as Pennsylvania and Virginia, he said.
“I do think there is bipartisan support for banning private money for election administration,” Kaaral said.
Last week, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that absentee ballot drop boxes which were funded by CTCL grants to the state’s five largest cities were illegal, he said, noting that the group is losing the policy debate in multiple states.
“The privately funded election illegality really harms the credibility of CTCL,” Kaaral said.