With Labor Day behind us, the 2024 election year has actually begun.
The political battle between original president Donald Trump and vice president Kamala Harris is on top of minds for the majority of voters. In line with the latter’s 2020 clash against Joe Biden, the election is expected to result in tens of thousands of votes being cast in a few crucial battleground states, adding to the already content competition.
While choosing Harris and another Democrat candidates is important to liberals, it’s not their sole goal this election cycle. In reality, Democrats have discovered a way to possibly advance their agenda in states where Trump is almost unavoidably victorious.
Left-wing organizations funded by Democrats ‘ dark money have successfully put activities on their state’s November ballots that aim to enact radical Democrat policies into state constitutions across the nation. These shoddy Republican strongholds and swing states will become bastions of despotic leftism if these seemingly worded amendments are approved by voters.
” ] What ] was initially meant to be a last check on government has, in fact, become a]tool ] that the left is]weaponizing ] to push its agenda”, Honest Elections Project Executive Director Jason Snead told The Federalist.
The Scenario
According to Snead, the public’s manipulation of the quarterly voting method can be traced to as early as 2018, when Democrat activists placed a determine overhauling Michigan’s electoral process on the government’s congressional ballot. The amendment to the constitution sought to put in place extreme left-wing initiatives like no-excuse absentee ballot and automatic voter registration.
In 2022, the concept started to gain more traction. Leftists in Michigan have introduced poll laws that would enshrine abortion, child mutilation, and unsafe election practices in the state constitution. Much like the 2018 act, the activities were approved by citizens.
Due to 2023, Republicans controlled both chambers of the Michigan Legislature, which translates to significant legislative priorities supported by Democrat Governors. Gretchen Whitmer needed the support of GOP legislators. Democrats were able to confuse voters into putting their mission into law by using the ballot initiative process to avoid the state legislature.
The left has been acutely aware of the power of using ballot initiatives to circumvent laws and [promote ] policies that they have proposed in the most favorable terms, and what they end up doing with these ballot measures is to push a very partisan agenda, Snead said. We kind of know what that objective looks like, whether we’re talking about contraception or election law changes.
Democrats are then going all out on extreme ballot measures this drop after successfully tricking Ohio’s voters next year into including baby-killing into their country’s foundation file. In addition to contraception, left-wing parties are backing modifications mandating minimum wage hikes, legalizing pot use, implementing ranked-choice election, and expanding the use of mail-in voting, to name a few.
And it’s not just toss-up says like Nevada and Arizona that Democrats are targeting. Some of these left-wing activities may be considered by voters in “red” state, such as Florida, Idaho, Montana, and Missouri.
]RELATED: These Essential Election Integrity Initiatives Might Be On Your 2024 Poll]
Show Me the Income
The party’s dark money network has n’t stopped the wave of deceptive Democrat ballot measures without receiving financial support from the party’s dark money network.
Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust ( APT ), spoke with The Federalist about the importance of the Sixteen Thirty Fund in funding the initiatives ‘ state and local organizations. According to InfluenceWatch, the party is a “left-of-center advocacy and lobbying business” overseen by Arabella Advisors, a significant financial supporter of Democrat-aligned companies and interests.
Sutherland claimed that the Sixteen Thirty fund spends tens of millions of dollars on these contentious ballot issues across the United States.
During the 2024 cycle, for example, the organization has collectively poured millions into pro-abortion initiatives in states such as Arizona and Florida. Additionally, it has dumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into Alaska to back legislation that would require a minimum wage increase and oppose legislation that would repeal the state’s ranked-choice voting (RCV ) system.
RCV is predominantly favored by Democrats as a way of flipping traditionally Republican-held seats and has  , produced , inaccurate election results and high rates of discarded ballots. Democrats used the system to win her 2022 reelection bid and establishment GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski to win control of Alaska’s largest congressional district.
Other left-wing organizations, including Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Open Society Foundations, have contributed to Democrat-aligned ballot measures in recent years, according to Sutherland.
Foreign Cash
The Sixteen Thirty Fund is n’t solely reliant on American cash to enshrine leftist policies into state constitutions, however. As noted by Sutherland, the organization has received large swaths of money from wealthy foreign figures, such as Swiss national Hansjörg Wyss.
An APT report published earlier this year revealed that Wyss, through his , Berger Action Fund, “has funneled$ 243 million into]the ]  , Sixteen Thirty Fund“. APT identified “nearly$ 100 million … in funding for ballot issues by]the ] Sixteen Thirty Fund across 25 states over the last 10 years”.
The Sixteen Thirty Fund’s financial impact was notable in Ohio’s efforts to pass the aforementioned pro-abortion constitutional amendment. According to the Ohio Capital Journal, an affiliate of the left-wing media entity States Newsroom, the Democrat-aligned” Ohioans United for Reproductive Rights and the organization’s prior name Ohioans For Reproductive Freedom received about$ 6.4 million” from the Sixteen Thirty Fund throughout the 2023 cycle.
Ohio Republicans passed legislation earlier this year that prohibits foreign money from being used in state ballot measure campaigns in response to Wyss ‘ interference in the U.S. electoral process. According to a review of Ohio’s campaign finance database, the Sixteen Thirty Fund gave$ 6 million to the organization that supported a redistricting amendment on the same day that Governor. Mike DeWine announced a special legislative session to pass the prohibition.
Although DeWine reportedly approved the law in June, a judge in a federal district court on Saturday partially blocked it. It was scheduled to go into effect on Sunday. Since then, Attorney General David Yost and Secretary of State Frank LaRose have filed an appeal with the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.
How to Save Red America
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Sutherland claimed that the political systems of the left and the right are causing Republican defeats because the “left has a collectivist approach to weaponizing and funding these ballot issues that is not seen on the right.” The expert on election integrity also advocated for states to pass laws that would prevent foreign funding of ballot initiatives to stop leftists from abusing the ballot initiative process.
Snead advocated for greater efforts to inform the public about the left’s tactics and made similar calls for states to close the foreign funding loophole.
” The public generally does not like when out-of-state groups, much less’ dark money groups,’ are ]trying ] to advance agendas in their states”, he said. The public’s awareness of the abuses of this process and who is behind it can be very helpful in getting the public to a place where they understand that this process is being abused.
He also suggested that states could pass laws similar to those proposed in Missouri to “make sure that signatures]for ballot initiatives are being gathered from the entire state” rather than populous Democrat enclaves to ensure the measure is something voters from various geographic regions want on the ballot.
Shawn Fleetwood is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington and a staff writer for The Federalist. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClear Health, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood
