Prior to the Biden administration’s announcement of the same plan, an organization supported by Obama White House students like Valerie Jarrett and supported by democratic dark money sponsors advocated using tax money to pay school students to get out the ballot in the 2024 election.
The Daily Signal obtained the documents through a public information plea in which it sought information from the Wisconsin Elections Commission regarding President Joe Biden’s contentious executive order to promote election.  ,
A representative from the state of Wisconsin and its capital area, Madison, contacted officials in January about the need for funds from the Federal Work- Study Program to pay for individuals to participate in election-related work.  ,
The Biden presidency was reportedly doing that by late February, according to Vice President Kamala Harris and the U.S. Department of Education.  ,
In a two-way culture in Wisconsin, which Trump lost to Biden in 2020 by just about 20, 000 votes out of over 3.2 million cast, according to a fresh Wall Street Journal surveys of voters in battleground state.
In a Jan. 18 message, Ryan Drysdale, chairman of effects and state networks for the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, sent an email to Bonnie Chang, voting referral consultant in the Madison city clerk’s office, about U. S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona’s plans to update how taxpayer money may be used.  ,
According to Drysdale, the secretary, as you may be aware, has been working on clarification regarding Federal Work- Study’s eligibility to support student workers with local election officials and is confident that another letter from the White House/Dept of Ed will contain guidelines, according to Drysdale, in reference to the White House and the Department of Education.  ,
The Federal Work- Study Program, funded by the Department of Education, provides financial aid to eligible undergraduate and graduate students at colleges and universities.
The “red wave” for Republican candidates in 2022 was stopped by the youth vote. One of the reasons the Biden administration has tried to “forgive” student loan debt is that it once had the reputation of being a” core Democrat constituency.”  ,  ,
ALL IN asserted that the youth vote was the deciding factor in 2022 elections in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin. 394 colleges and universities from 44 states and the District of Columbia were included in the initiative’s first program recognizing” Most Engaged Campuses for College Student Voting,” according to the initiative.
” I was invited to join a meeting with the secretary, the UW- Superior campus team and surrounding local election officials who are exploring both internship and FWS opportunities”, Drysdale wrote to Madison’s Chang, referring to Cardona, the University of Wisconsin in Superior, Wisconsin, and the Federal Work- Study Program.  ,
” There was a lot of excitement even without the FWS component”, he wrote. ” They hope to use UWS]University of Wisconsin- Superior ] as a case study for other]Wisconsin ] institutions and local election officials to learn from. If it would be helpful, I’d be happy to give you more information on a quick call. Partner and funders are keen to learn more about FWS and these kinds of opportunities, so we’ll keep an eye on them in Wisconsin.
On Jan. 19, Chang forwarded Drysdale’s email about the Federal Work- Study Program, or FWS, to Madison City Attorney Michael Haas.
She pointed out that University of Wisconsin- Madison officials stated that “it’s in the federal language that FWS students are not able to work at the polls on Election Day nor engage in GOTV/voter engagement spaces.”
GOTV refers to “get out the vote” in a way.
Haas also wrote to Meagan Wolfe, the Wisconsin Elections Commission administrator, the same day.  ,
According to Haas,” If I understand correctly, there is a request to change the FWS rules regarding work as election inspectors, but I do n’t think that has yet occurred.” ” In any event, the secretary of state is trying to help make it happen”.
The Wisconsin Secretary of State’s Office, which oversees elections in the state, did n’t reply to inquiries from The Daily Signal by publication time.  ,
The Daily Signal previously reported that Civic Nation’s board includes Jarrett, former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, Tina Tchen, former chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama, and Cecilia Muñoz, former director of the Obama White House’s Domestic Policy Council.
Funders of Civic Nation include left-leaning grantmakers like the Joyce Foundation, which had Barack Obama on its board before he became president, and the Democracy Fund, which was founded by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar.  ,
United State of Women and When We All Vote are two other organizations that Civic Nation runs, besides ALL IN.  ,
Amanda Hollowell, When We All Vote’s national organizing director, was among activists who met Feb. 27 at a White House event with the vice president to talk about turning out voters.  ,
” We have been working to encourage student voter participation.”  , And, for example, we have —under the Federal Work- Study Program—]we ] now allow students to get paid, through federal work- study, to register people and to be nonpartisan poll workers”, Harris told the gathering at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.  ,
” As we know, this is important for a number of reasons”, she said. One, to entice our young leaders in this process and make them capable of helping to strengthen our communities. However, we need to do this work given that so many poll workers have left for a variety of reasons, which we will also discuss.
The city attorney told The Daily Signal that the city of Madison did not play any part in pushing for clarification of the U.S. Education Department’s policy that allows the program to pay students for election work.  ,
City of Madison officials did not lobby the Biden administration to alter FWS regulations. We have n’t been involved in that matter because Ryan Drysdale sent me an email about the FWS regulations or how they changed, Haas said, so I do n’t know much about them because they do n’t have an impact on the city’s operations, aside from what Ryan has to say. With city funding, the city of Madison employs a number of UW-Madison students as poll workers, and they are paid in the same way as other poll workers.
All In’s Drysdale and Civic Nation’s press contact were asked to comment by The Daily Signal. Neither responded.  ,
The Education Department referred The Daily Signal to a” Dear Colleague letter” to college administrators, dated Feb. 26, from Nasser H. Paydar, assistant secretary in the Office of Postsecondary Education.
In part, the letter says:” The department is today clarifying that FWS funds may be used for employment by a federal, state, local, or tribal public agency for civic engagement work that is not associated with a particular interest or group” . ,
The Wisconsin Elections Commission’s documents also included discussions between state officials and the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, an agency.  ,
NIST was developing a strategic plan to comply with Biden’s executive order, which it later made public.
One of at least four federal agencies that has released a strategic plan like this is the institute. The Justice Department, however, has claimed presidential privilege to prevent public release of its own plan for complying with Biden’s order.
