Secretary of State Chuck Gray is raising alarms about a private elections group that attended a meeting of Wyoming county clerks last week.

At the meeting of the Wyoming Association of County Officers held in Rock Springs, there was a booth and a staff member from the nonprofit Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL).

On Wednesday, he sent a letter to Wyoming’s 23 county clerks expressing his concerns.

“I was deeply troubled by the presence of CTCL at the Wyoming Association of County Officers meeting in Rock Springs last week,” Gray writes. “Despite many in the media who have claimed there is no presence by these groups in Wyoming, CTCL’s presence in Rock Springs only demonstrates that they are targeting Wyoming.”

Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese was at the meeting and said CTCL’s presence was rather innocuous. She said the group’s representative did not offer her help or any money, and appeared to be serving in a strictly informational role.

“I don’t think this girl said or had anything to do with any of us that would be out of line,” she said.

Freese also finds it interesting Gray felt the need to put out a public letter about the issue when he had already expressed concern to the clerks about CTCL being at the meeting.

“It’s a little bit surprising when he already had discussed it and we know his concerns,” she said.

What’s It About?

CTCL is connected to Meta founder Mark Zuckerburg, who gave $350 million to the organization to help with public election administration during the 2020 election.

The group used this donation to pay out $332 million in donations to provide thousands of local elections offices COVID-19 “relief grants.”

In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg said the money was intended to “support election officials with the infrastructure they need to administer the vote — including voting equipment, PPE for poll workers and hiring additional poll staff.”

The grants became colloquially known as “Zuck Bucks.”

Although the CTCL grants in the 2020 election were nominally nonpartisan, many accused the group of focusing its main efforts on areas won by President Joe Biden in battleground states to help draw a higher voter turnout, which historically tends to benefit Democrats more than Republicans.

As he also mentioned in a 2023 letter sent to the clerks, Gray believes these kinds of “deeply disturbing” grants could expose Wyoming to funding streams supported by foreign actors. He pointed out that liberal donor Swiss billionaire Hansjorg Wyss, who lives in Wyoming, gave to groups that then gave money to CTCL.

There is no evidence CTCL spent any money in Wyoming in 2020, but Gray urged the clerks in his letter to let him know if any private groups solicit them with money to run their elections, which is legal in Wyoming.

Freese said she already receives significant information on how to run elections from various governmental groups and doesn’t believe a group like CTCL could sway her.

CTCL appears to have broadened its focus this election year, offering “Rural and Nonmetro Election Infrastructure Grants,” for more rural areas. The grants are only eligible in jurisdictions like Wyoming that haven’t banned private funding of election administration.

During the 2023 and 2024 legislative sessions, bills were brought that would have banned private funding of elections in Wyoming. Neither gained much traction.

“Given the evolving tactics of groups like CTCL and their history of influencing election administration across the country, as well as Wyoming’s lack of a statutory ban on private funding of election administration, Wyoming is particularly vulnerable,” Gray writes.

Freese and Marissa Carpio, a representative of the Equality State Policy Center, said their groups had a neutral stance on these bills. Their only concern was that the legislation could inhibit private groups like Rotary clubs and schools from offering facilities to use as polling places.

“Where they worry is the cost burden on those county clerks,” Carpio said.

Influence

Zuckerburg’s actions drew a rash of criticism from Republicans like Gray alleging that he and his wife were trying to influence the final results of the election.

Democrats have pushed for more federal funding in elections for years, which are largely funded at state and local levels. The GOP has largely opposed these proposals and introduced legislation that would prohibit nonprofits from giving direct funding to election offices.

Gray himself isn’t above taking advice and influence from private groups.

A trove of emails obtained through a public records request provided to Cowboy State Daily earlier this year by watchdog group Documented show that Florida-based think tank Foundation for Government Accountability lobbied Gray on various elections and ESG (environmental, social and governance) topics in early 2023, which resulted in nearly identical legislation brought before the Legislature.

Leo Wolfson can be reached at leo@cowboystatedaily.com.