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ウィスコンシン州のCTCL ウィスコンシン州のCTCL：CTCLの全米規模の取り組みのためのグラウンドゼロ
ウィスコンシン州におけるCTCLの「Safe Elections Project」は、お金に困っている自治体が選挙資金の増額を求めて草の根的に活動した結果ではありません。CTCLの工作員が主導し、Facebookの創業者であるマーク・ザッカーバーグが巨額の資金を提供した。ザッカーバーグは「ウィスコンシン・ファイブ」の市長やその他の市当局者とのコネクションを築き、最初の助成金申請を奨励し、その完了を支援するための資金と助言を提供した。
CTCLのウィスコンシン州の選挙への関わりは、ラシーン市から始まりました。5月下旬、CTCLはウィスコンシン州南東部のラシーン市に10万ドルの助成金を交付し、「ウィスコンシン州の他の都市に "Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan "への参加を呼びかけました」。ラシーン市のコーリー・メイソン市長は、マディソン、ミルウォーキー、グリーンベイ、ケノーシャのリベラル派の市長たちに、CTCLの助成金を受けようと話しましたが、その際には「条件付き」という但し書きがついていました。
CTCLは、ラシーン市が最初に交付する10万ドルのうち、1万ドルを4つの都市に分配することを許可しました（1万ドルは自分のものにしました）。
公文書請求で入手した電子メールには、2020年7月7日にCTCLが「ウィスコンシン5」への第一次助成金を公示する3カ月前の2020年5月に、メイソンのオフィスが他の4市長との仮想会議を何度も設定していたことが記されている。ウィスコンシン州の安全な投票計画、そしてウィスコンシン州の選挙へのCTCLの関与は、CTCLの活動家理事とグリーンベイ、ケノーシャ、マディソン、ミルウォーキー、ラシーンの選挙管理者との共同作業の結果として生まれたものでした。これらの都市は、やがてCTCL内部で「ウィスコンシン5」と呼ばれるようになりました。
民主党がウィスコンシン州を奪還するために重要な地域にある他の少なくとも10都市は、CTCLが州内の非都市部の選挙事務所に提供する最低5,000ドルを大幅に上回る多額の助成金を申請し、受領することで、この計画に参加しようとした。
CTCLと「The Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan」によるウィスコンシン州の選挙制度への潜入
2020年夏、CTCLの高位アドバイザーと、ピエール・オミダイアが出資する「National Vote at Home Institute」の代表者数名、そしてミルウォーキー市の事務局が協力して作成した「Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan」は、ウィスコンシン州の2020年の選挙にCTCLが関与する上での要となった。その主要な目的を果たすことが、CTCLの資金提供の条件でした。ウィスコンシン5都市の関係者は、計画に含まれる目的に使用されなかった場合、CTCLが助成金を取り戻すことができる「クローバック条項」に署名しました。
たとえば、グリーンベイ市が承認したCTCLの契約書には、助成金は、安全で確実な選挙管理のために「のみ」使用し、それ以外の目的には使用しない、と書かれていますが、これは、WSVPの一部に設定された野心的な条件の下での使用を意味します。助成金のクローバック条項には、「CTCLは、（a）上記の条件のいずれかが満たされていないと独自の判断で判断した場合、または（b）適用される法律や規制を遵守するためにそうしなければならない場合、助成金の全部または一部を中止、変更、保留、または返還するよう求めることができる」と書かれていました。
The Wisconsin 5 Sought to Implement CTCL's Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan（ウィスコンシン州の安全な投票計画）の経緯。無意味なものの焚き付け
ウィスコンシン州の安全な投票計画には、CTCLの4つの主要な戦略目標が記載されています。
1つ目は、「不在者投票（郵便と期日前投票）の奨励と増加」で、主に不在者投票用紙の記入・提出の「支援」と投票箱の設置を行う。
2つ目は、「戦略的な有権者教育とアウトリーチ活動を、特に歴史的に権利を奪われてきた住民に対して、劇的に拡大する」ことです。
3つ目は、選挙当日のボランティアに代わって、有給の若い活動家を中心に、新しい選挙要員を募集することです。
4番目は、重点的に、また資金のレベルとしても、Covid-19関連の安全対策に資金を提供することでした。
CTCLが資金提供したウィスコンシン州の選挙事務所は、特にCTCLの活動家が好む層、つまり2016年に大挙して民主党を見捨てた労働者階級の有権者に代わって、かつて工業地帯である中西部の旧民主党の「青い壁」のかなりの部分を占めていた、ゆるやかに定義された「新しいアメリカン・マジョリティ」連合に声をかけようとしているようだった。
この連合には、有色人種、独身女性、若者が含まれており、LGBTQコミュニティのメンバーにも拡大されることが多い。CTCLに最も近い非営利団体である「Voter Participation Center」と「Center for Voter Information」の2団体は、この選挙戦略の推進者として最前線に立っています。Democracy Docketによると、"2020年の選挙では、VPCとCVIは前例のない課題を克服し、ニュー・アメリカン・マジョリティの有権者の参加を支援した "とのことです。
これらの課題に対処するためには、ウィスコンシン州の財政的・人的資源を大量に投入する必要があります。そのため、ウィスコンシン州のSafe Voting計画では、Covid-19の影響を受けた2020年に不在者投票の基準が大幅に緩和されたとしても、そのような有権者が有効な投票を行うためには「手取り足取り」の支援が必要であるという苦悩が表明されていました。このニーズに応えるため、グリーンベイ、マディソン、ミルウォーキー、ラシンの4都市は、CTCLの助成金のうち54万ドル以上を、さまざまな形での「超党派の有権者教育」だけに予算化しました。
CTCL And “The Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan” to Infiltrate Wisconsin’s Election System
The Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan—which would emerge out of a collaboration between high level CTCL Advisors, several representatives of the Pierre Omidyar funded National Vote at Home Institute, and Milwaukee’s City Clerk office during Summer, 2020—was the lynchpin of CTCL’s involvement in Wisconsin’s 2020 election. Fulfilling its major objectives was a condition for CTCL funding. City officials among The Wisconsin 5 signed off on “clawback provisions” that allowed CTCL to reclaim their grant money if it was not used to further the objectives contained in the plan.
For example, the CTCL contract that Green Bay approved warns that the grant was to be used “only for” safe and secure election administration, “and for no other purposes,” which means under the ambitious terms they set forth in their portion of the WSVP. The grant’s clawback provision stated that “CTCL may discontinue, modify, withhold part of, or ask for the return of all or part of the grant funds if it determines, in its sole judgment, that (a) any of the above conditions have not been met or (b) it must do so to comply with applicable laws or regulations.”
How The Wisconsin 5 Sought to Implement CTCL’s Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan: Bonfire of the Inanities
The Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan lists CTCL’s four major strategic objectives.
First, to “encourage and Increase Absentee Voting (By Mail and Early, In-Person),” mainly through providing “assistance” in absentee ballot completion and submission, and the installation of ballot drop boxes
Second, to “dramatically expand strategic voter education & outreach efforts, particularly to historically disenfranchised residents.”
Third, to recruit new election workers, mainly from among paid young activists who would replace the usual, older election day volunteers.
A distant fourth, both in emphasis and level of funding, was the funding of Covid-19 related safety measures.
CTCL funded election offices in Wisconsin seemed particularly intent on courting a demographic favored by the activists at CTCL—a loosely defined “New American Majority” coalition—to replace the working-class voters who had abandoned the party in droves in 2016, and who formerly made up a significant part of the old Democratic “Blue Wall” in the industrial upper Midwest.
This coalition encompasses people of color, single women, young people, and is often extended to include members of the LGBTQ community. Two of the non-profits most closely affiliated with CTCL, the Voter Participation Center and the Center for Voter Information, are at the forefront of proponents of this electoral strategy. According to Democracy Docket, “In the 2020 election, VPC and CVI overcame unprecedented challenges to help engage voters from the New American Majority.”
Addressing these challenges would involve a large commitment of financial and human resources in Wisconsin. There was therefore considerable anguish expressed in the Wisconsin Safe Voting plan about the “hand holding” level of assistance that such voters required in order to cast valid votes, even under greatly relaxed absentee ballot standards during Covid-19 afflicted 2020. To meet this need, Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee, and Racine together budgeted over $540 thousand of their CTCL grant money toward various forms of “non-partisan voter education” alone.
The Wisconsin Safe Voting Plan outlined the prodigious efforts that the Wisconsin Five were willing to make in order to bend the election system from within toward these untapped tranches of low-propensity potential Democratic voters, and thereby increase Democratic votes in their cities, and in the statewide totals. Established by officials of the Wisconsin Five in collaboration with CTCL advisors, it would serve as the general template for CTCL’s efforts in other key swing states nationwide. It is an extravagant wish list of far-left Democratic election concerns and priorities.
Some of the highlights:
Concern was expressed about “voters who, understandably, were completely confused about the timeline and rules for voting in the midst of a pandemic and required considerable public outreach and individual hand-holding to ensure their right to vote.”
Concerns were also expressed that many targeted Democratic voters would have no idea how to cast absentee ballots. WSVP participants lamented the fact that “countless voters” in their municipalities attempted to submit cell phone “selfies” as valid photo ID. Explaining to them that this was not a valid form of photo ID and instructing them on how to properly submit valid ID “took considerable staff time and resources.”
Green Bay planned to spend $45,000 to employ bilingual “Voter Navigators” to help residents properly upload valid photo ID, complete their ballots, comply with certification requirements, and offer witness signatures.
Racine wished to create a small corps of “Voter Ambassadors.” Racine officials said they would use their grants to recruit, train and employ paid Voter Ambassadors who would set up at the City’s community centers to assist voters with all aspects of absentee ballot requests, including photo ID compliance.
Green Bay allocated funds to install secure drop boxes at the city’s libraries, police community buildings, and potentially several other sites including major grocery stores, gas stations, University of Wisconsin Green Bay, and Northern Wisconsin Technical College, in addition to the one already in use at their City Hall.
In Madison city officials planned to install one secure drop box for every 15,000 voters, or 12 drop boxes total. Madison also planned to provide a potential absentee ballot witness at each drop box, utilizing social distancing and equipped with PPE.
City officials from all of The Wisconsin Five sought additional funds “to accommodate those who [either do not] want to vote by mail, or go to the polls on election day or to early vote.” Funds were therefore sought to enable absentee “curbside” and “drive-thru voting,” particularly for those with health concerns who could “remain in their cars and have a virtually contact-less voting process.” Each of the five cities asked for significant resources to expand drive-through “curbside” voting for four weeks prior to election day.
Madison officials sought $160,000 to provide 18 in-person absentee voting locations for the four weeks leading up to the November election. Madison officials also proposed the use of carts for their ExpressVote ballot marking devices for curbside voting so that the use of ExpressVote could be “normalized” to help voters with disabilities feel “less segregated” during the voting process.
Green Bay sought to motivate potential voters through a CTCL-funded multi-prong strategy utilizing “every door direct mail,” targeted mail, geo-fencing, billboards, radio, television, and streaming-service PSAs, digital advertising, and automated calls and texts. The City guaranteed that these efforts would be undertaken in English, Spanish, Hmong, and Somali. Additional grant funds to fund voter outreach from within Green Bay’s election office would be “distributed in partnership with key community organizations including churches, educational institutions, and organizations serving African immigrants, LatinX residents, and African Americans.” The total amount that Green Bay sought for this initiative alone was $215,000, or about 64 percent of their entire pre-CTCL election budget.
Milwaukee wanted to develop a broad-based voter outreach strategy that would appeal “to a variety of communities within Milwaukee, including historically underrepresented communities such as LatinX and African Americans, and would include a specific focus on the re-enfranchisement of voters who are no longer on probation or parole for a felony. Additionally, this campaign would include an edgy but nonpartisan and tasteful communications campaign to harness the current [Black Lives Matter] protests’ emphasis on inequity and ties that message to voting.”
Racine expressed the desire to obtain funds to purchase “a Mobile Voting Precinct so the City can travel around the City to community centers and strategically chosen partner locations and enable people to vote in this accessible (ADA-compliant), secure, and completely portable polling booth on wheels, an investment that the City [would] be able to use for years to come.”
Madison planned to launch “a robust and strategic poll worker recruitment effort, focusing on people of color, high school students, and college students” to replace older, experienced poll workers.
Milwaukee promoted a similar plan to increase staffing by launching a recruitment campaign aimed at “a new generation of election workers to sign up and be involved in their democracy.”
Absentee Ballot Chaos Heavily Favors Joe Biden in 2020
CTCL won Wisconsin for Joe Biden, and they did it mainly with absentee ballots. Covid-19 was used as a pretext in many states to put a moratorium on election integrity laws, guidelines and ballot verification procedures that have been long standing and time tested. The result was chaos, especially in states that suddenly moved from very limited absentee voting toward near universal mail-in voting in a very short period of time, such as Wisconsin.
CTCL’s major objective, as set forth in all their internal documents and grant applications, was to promote absentee voting. This involved getting absentee ballots into the hands of reliably Democratic demographics, showing them how to complete them correctly, convincing them to submit them, and providing as many avenues as possible for those ballots to be returned and counted.
CTCL’s involvement in the 2020 election appears exceedingly complex on the surface, at times requiring a program to keep track of the major players, scandals, and institutional relationships that grew out of the CTCL Safe Elections Project. This aspect of CTCL involvement in Wisconsin has been extensively documented by Mollie Hemingway of the Federalist and M.D. Kittle of the Wisconsin Spotlight, among others.
