Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg vows $300M to support ‘safe and trustworthy ballot’

This story belongs to Elections 2020, CNET’s protection of the ballot in November and its consequences.

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are dedicating $300 million to support ballot and election facilities in the United States ahead of the November election. 

“Election officials across the country are working hard to ensure that everyone can vote and every vote can be counted — and we want to help make sure they have the resources they need to do this,” the Facebook CEO composed in a post on Tuesday. 

The couple is offering $250 million to the Center for Tech and Civic Life to “provide funding for local counties to have the staffing, training, and equipment they need,” stated Zuckerberg. The staying $50 million will go to the Center for Election Innovation & Research, a not-for-profit that intends to assist state and regional election authorities make sure that elections are safe which citizens are notified. 

“We all depend on election officials to provide safe and secure voting options to the public. Unfortunately, election departments face unprecedented challenges in 2020 due to COVID-19,” stated Tiana Epps-Johnson, executive director of CTCL, in a news release. “This expansion of our COVID-19 Response Grant program provides our country’s election officials and poll workers with the critical resources they need to safely serve every voter.”

The $300 million promise from Chan and Zuckerberg, which was previously reported by Axios, is different from efforts by Facebook to sign up individuals to vote and fight election false information. 

Misinformation on socials media has actually been a leading issue because Russian giants utilized Facebook and other websites to publish content targeted at sowing discord amongst Americans throughout the 2016 United States governmental election. Facebook has actually likewise been under fire for not sending out posts from political leaders to fact-checkers, while likewise warding off claims that it censors speech from conservatives.