Multiple left-wing nonprofits were hit with a complaint Monday that alleges the organizations violated North Carolina law by collecting and retaining key voter information.
The complaint, filed by Restoring Integrity and Trust In Elections (RITE) with the North Carolina State Board of Elections, alleges that the Voter Participation Center (VPC), Center for Voter Information (CVI) and Rock the Vote (RTV) illegally retained voters’ dates of birth and other personal information. VPC and CVI allegedly sent registration forms to voters by mail with QR codes that redirected to RTV’s online registration portal, which is also hosted on VPC and CVI’s websites, the complaint says.
Despite being dubbed as nonpartisan, CVI and its sister organization VPC were founded by former Democratic operative Page Gardner, who worked on former President Bill Clinton’s campaign in 1992 and other left-wing initiatives, according to multiple reports. Both organizations were involved in the 2020 elections, with VPC and CVI accused by Fairfax County of sending out pre-filled absentee ballot applications with inaccurate information, and sending out voter registration mailers that could be misconstrued as government documents.
Meanwhile, RTV, which also labels itself as “nonpartisan,” was founded in 1990 by music industry executives to mobilize youth voting in response to the “censorship of hip-hop and rap artists” and partnered with Music Television (MTV). The organization has advocated for various left-of-center policy initiatives, including abolishing the electoral college in 2019 and healthcare-for-all in 2009.
“There’s an element of trust, you expect these organizations to be compliant with the law,” President and CEO of RITE Derek Lyons told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “There’s a certain unknown to how the information is being used behind the scenes, for things like messaging and turnout. We’re not trying to shut down their operation with this complaint, they can register voters, but we think they should be doing it in compliance with the law.”
In 2022, VPC spent $31,388,915 on “voter registration and voter mobilization,” using mail and internet to primarily target “people of color and young people” according to a 2022 Internal Revenue Service (IRS) filing. Meanwhile, CVI spent $17,737,860 in 2022 targeting what it called the “new American majority” that constitutes “unmarried women, people of color,” and young people, according to its 990 filing.
RTV spent $2,313,279 on “voter education” that also primarily targeted young people, according to its 2022 IRS filing.
The VPC, CVI and RTV did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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