A shadowy non-profit often known as the Voter Participation Middle reportedly spent over $ 100 million forward of the 2020 presidential election to draw lots of of 1000’s of votes from these thought-about prone to help Joe Biden.
The Washington-based group raised $ 85 million and spent a good bigger quantity delivering thousands and thousands of mail and digital notifications to voters throughout 2020, The Hill reported this week. Accessing the group’s tax filings, the information outlet famous that final yr’s spending dwarfed the $ 14 million it spent through the earlier election in 2016.
Though the Voter Participation Middle (VPC) doesn’t explicitly marketing campaign for particular candidates, it targets youthful voters, minorities and single girls – all of whom historically favor Democrats however usually generate below-average turnouts.
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The group’s CEO Tom Lopach informed The Hill it had delivered some 371 million items of mail over the 2020 election cycle, urging voters to register for mail-in voting or to vote early. In addition they apparently despatched out one other 300 million digital messages by way of advertisements and emails.
Lopach estimated that the group had introduced in about 272,000 votes from individuals who won’t in any other case present up at polling stations – probably serving to Biden safe his slim victories in swing states like Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia.
Because the group is a registered non-profit, it’s exempt from disclosing the sources of its funds – and Lopach didn’t elaborate. He did, nevertheless, say the group had “sturdy help from foundations” and “organizations who imagine in voter participation, and personal people.”
Describing the VPC as being amongst a “constellation of darkish cash organizations,” The Hill reported that lots of of thousands and thousands of “darkish cash” flowed into the 2020 elections, each supporting and attacking Biden and Donald Trump, in addition to distinguished congressional candidates.
Watchdog group OpenSecrets, which tracks darkish cash in politics, has highlighted over $ 30 million in such funding spent through the election. That determine doesn’t embody funds from the VPC and different teams that haven’t filed with the IRS – which is how a lot of the darkish cash in elections solely turns into publicly recognized years later.
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