North Kentucky News

In Kenton, where voting officials received funding from a Mark Zuckerberg-related organization, Democrat turnout increased 33.3% from 2016 to 2020, while Republican turnout increased by 12%.

In 2020, Joe Biden secured 39% of 81,760 votes, compared to the 34% votes earned by Hillary Clinton in 2016. Grants to voting officials, funded almost entirely by Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, weren’t offered in 2016.

In Kentucky, Democrat turnout rose 22.9% in areas which received the funding, while increasing 22% in areas which did not.

The Republican Party earned 9.8% more votes in Kentucky districts assisted by the CTCL, compared to 9.5% in jurisdictions without similar funding.

Support for Trump increased in Kenton 3% in 2020.

There were 11,495 more votes cast in Kenton in the 2020 election than in 2016.

Kenton was one of 43 Kentucky areas where voting officials received money from the progressive Centre for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL). A $350 million donation from Facebook founder Zuckerberg and his wife provided funding for the grants.

Grants from the organization, ranging from $5,000 to $19 million, were given to voting officials in exchange for specific conditions being followed. This included strategically targeting voters, creating ballots and developing what are known as “cure letters” to correct ballots at risk of being thrown out for discrepancies in signatures.

The influx of private money on such a large scale was criticized throughout the contentious 2020 election.

The CTCL was sued by Louisiana’s Attorney General in October 2021 “to prevent the injection of unregulated private money...and protect the integrity of elections in the State.” The lawsuit wasn’t allowed to proceed by a State judge.

Criticism of the CTCL also stemmed from favoring “predominantly Democratic counties” and even gave them a headstart to apply for funding, according to emails obtained through Right-to-Know requests.

“Mark Zuckerberg is providing nearly as much money to this year’s election administration as the federal government,” Phil Kline with the Amistad Project said in a late October 2020 press release.

The US government, in the run-up to the 2020 election, was criticized for underfunding the electoral process at a critical time.

Area	Received CTCL Funding?	% Change in Republican Support	% Change in Democratic Support
Anderson	Yes	0.4	1.8
Ballard	Yes	1.7	0.5
Bell	Yes	0.7	0
Boone	Yes	2.1	4.7
Bourbon	Yes	0.1	2.1
Calloway	Yes	1.1	2.9
Campbell	Yes	1.8	4.5
Christian	Yes	1.2	2
Clark	Yes	2	3.6
Clay	Yes	0.9	0.2
Clinton	Yes	0.9	0.1
Crittenden	Yes	1	1.8
Daviess	Yes	1.5	3.5
Franklin	Yes	1	2.7
Grant	Yes	1.5	0.4
Graves	Yes	0.6	0.8
Greenup	Yes	0	1
Hart	Yes	2.2	1.2
Henderson	Yes	1	2.4
Henry	Yes	1.7	0.4
Hopkins	Yes	2.6	3.9
Jackson	Yes	0.2	1.1
Jefferson	Yes	2.4	4.2
Kenton	Yes	2.3	5
Madison	Yes	1.7	3.3
Magoffin	Yes	1.4	0.8
Marion	Yes	4.9	2.8
Mason	Yes	0.6	2
McCracken	Yes	2.2	3.8
Menifee	Yes	1.9	1.1
Monroe	Yes	0.7	0.2
Montgomery	Yes	0.7	0.4
Muhlenberg	Yes	1.2	0.4
Ohio	Yes	0.2	1.4
Oldham	Yes	4	6.3
Pendleton	Yes	2.1	0.5
Rowan	Yes	0.2	0.8
Scott	Yes	2.1	4
Spencer	Yes	0.2	1.7
Trigg	Yes	0.3	0.5
Union	Yes	0.8	1.7
Warren	Yes	3	4.9
Webster	Yes	1	2.1
Adair County	No	2.4	0.2
Allen County	No	1.2	0.9
Barren County	No	0.1	2.4
Bath County	No	3.6	1.7
Boyd County	No	0.7	3.1
Boyle County	No	0.8	3.5
Bracken County	No	3.2	1.1
Breathitt County	No	5.7	-3.8
Breckinridge County	No	1.6	0.7
Bullitt County	No	0.5	2.2
Butler County	No	1.6	0.6
Caldwell County	No	0.8	1.2
Carlisle County	No	1.3	1
Carroll County	No	4.3	1.7
Carter County	No	1.9	0.7
Casey County	No	1	0.9
Cumberland County	No	7.5	-5.1
Edmonson County	No	0.1	1.3
Elliott County	No	5.1	-2.1
Estill County	No	1.6	0.7
Fayette County	No	3.2	8.1
Fleming County	No	2.9	0.7
Floyd County	No	2.4	-0.5
Fulton County	No	1.2	0.2
Gallatin County	No	3.6	1.1
Garrard County	No	2	0.1
Grayson County	No	-1.6	4.4
Green County	No	1.2	0.2
Hancock County	No	3.7	0.5
Hardin County	No	1.5	4.7
Harlan County	No	0.5	0.9
Harrison County	No	1.7	1
Hickman County	No	1.1	0
Jessamine County	No	1.2	6.3
Johnson County	No	1.2	2.7
Knott County	No	0.9	1
Knox County	No	0.7	1.3
Larue County	No	2.5	0.5
Laurel County	No	0.4	2
Lawrence County	No	1.3	0.5
Lee County	No	0.5	0.5
Leslie County	No	0	0.3
Letcher County	No	-0.9	2.8
Lewis County	No	2.4	0.8
Lincoln County	No	1	1.1
Livingston County	No	3.3	0.3
Logan County	No	2.1	0.2
Lyon County	No	2.9	0.5
Marshall County	No	-0.1	2.9
Martin County	No	-0.3	1.1
McCreary County	No	1.2	0.2
McLean County	No	1.9	0.8
Meade County	No	1.4	1
Mercer County	No	-3.7	6.7
Metcalfe County	No	3.4	-1.7
Morgan County	No	1.6	0.1
Nelson County	No	3	0
Nicholas County	No	2	0.4
Owen County	No	3.8	1.1
Owsley County	No	4.3	-3.2
Perry County	No	-0.6	2
Pike County	No	0.1	1.8
Powell County	No	2.5	0.8
Pulaski County	No	1.1	2.9
Robertson County	No	2.2	0.2
Rockcastle County	No	0.7	0.9
Russell County	No	0.1	1.5
Shelby County	No	0.2	3.8
Simpson County	No	0	2.2
Taylor County	No	1.3	1.1
Todd County	No	0.2	0.7
Trimble County	No	1.8	0.3
Washington County	No	0.8	1.2
Wayne County	No	0.7	0.5
Whitley County	No	0.2	1.6
Wolfe County	No	1.8	0.5
Woodford County	No	1.8	6.4