Rockingham Times

In an effort to boost election accessibility, security and efficiency, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, donated over $350 million to foundations providing grants to election officials and jurisdictions, according to a report in Forbes.

The grants, spread throughout 65 areas in New Hampshire, had a vast impact on voter turnout and polling location efficiency. 

One such area is Newmarket, where Democratic support rose 25.2% between 2016 and 2020, according to the Rockingham Times. This upward trend for Democrats was reinforced by Joe Biden's commanding 65% margin there in 2020, compared to Hillary Clinton's 59% in 2016. Support for Trump increased in the area by 5.2%. 

Grants were awarded to election voting officials for being able to follow a set of conditions, including the targeting of specific voters and creating "cure letters" to help correct ballots that are at risk of being thrown out due to data discrepancies with signatures.

The direct source of the donation was the Center for Technology and Civil Life (CTCL), which received $250 million from Zuckerberg and Chan. The donations are intended to go toward improving voting infrastructure. An additional $100 million was donated to the CTCL after a greater-than-expected response from election officials in need of funding.

While some praise this philanthropy as helping to increase accessibility to voting and enhance the democratic process, other contend that it is a conflict of interest and inappropriate for Zuckerberg and Chan to be donating the funds, which some believe benefit election results only for Democrats. 

Contributions like these from other billionaires are under increased scrutiny as U.S. politics continues to be increasingly divisive.