Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz said Tuesday Scott County will accept $286,870 in election assistance from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg intended to improve voting access, and will be used to boost salaries of polling place workers in Scott County.
Moritz said Scott will be among about 30 Iowa counties accepting about $3 million of $30 million Zuckerberg and his wife pledged for nationwide election support.
The grant found no support from Scott County supervisors Friday, and drew sharp criticism from several calling in to the supervisors' online meeting, including former supervisor Diane Holst.
Moritz on Friday approached supervisors for the authority to accept the funds. Supervisors unanimously voted to table the request in a 5-0 vote.
On Tuesday, she said Scott County Attorney Mike Walton said supervisor approval was not needed.
“I have to ask myself, am I accepting this money and doing what’s right for taxpayers? I believe I am,” she told The NSP Tuesday morning.
She said the money will pay for health monitoring and equipment at polling locations, a boost in pay for poll workers and other expenses unique to this year.
“All of things I’m asking for are things we’ve already talked about before: PPE, election day rovers. None of those are controversial. All are just there to facilitate putting on a fair and honest election,” she said.
Supervisor John Maxwell on Friday made the motion to table Moritz’s request after hearing objections raised by callers, and sharing a few of his own. He worried about the perceived fairness of taking private contributions. He also was concerned the money would boost some, not all poll workers’ pay.
“Nothing’s for free. You take the money. Who knows what’s going to happen after that?” he said.
Former supervisor Holst called in to supervisors’ Tuesday committee meeting to condemn the grant.
“This private organization has no obligation to equal access of voting. Private money can target areas. Federal and state dollars have to treat all the same. This step across our country will change our elections forever, and not in a positive way,” she said.
Moritz said Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate alerted her to the grant funding. “As of yesterday, 38 counties already received this money in Iowa. Those are Republican and Democrat auditors,” she said.
Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan on Sept. 1 announced a donation of $300 million to The Center for Tech and Civic Life and The Center for Election & Innovation Research.
"Many counties and states are strapped financially and working to determine how to staff and fund operations that will allow for ballots to be cast and counted in a timely way," Chan and Zuckerberg said in a statement. “These donations will help to provide local and state officials across the country with the resources, training and infrastructure necessary to ensure that every voter who intends to cast a ballot is able to, and ultimately, to preserve integrity of our elections."
