Do you live in a swing state? If so, the Voter Participation Center, a "non-partisan" charity, is spending big on Facebook ads to ensure you have the information you need to cast a ballot in the upcoming election.
That is unless you like NASCAR, golf, Jeeps, or other interests and hobbies typically associated with Republican men. In that case, the Voter Participation Center does not want to share information that might help you make it to the polls in November.
The Voter Participation Center is a self-described "non-partisan" charity that claims to have helped more than six million people register to vote since its inception in 2003. The group’s claim to be "non-partisan" is important because the IRS is clear that charities, beneficiaries of generous tax exemptions, can only engage in voter registration drives in a "neutral, non-partisan manner." The IRS prohibits charities from engaging in voter registration activities in a manner that favors a candidate or political party.
On the surface, the Voter Participation Center’s Facebook ads appear to meet that non-partisan standard. "It’s quick and easy to register online to vote in Georgia. Check it off your to-do list in just a few minutes here," reads one of the organization’s ads that has received over one million impressions in the swing state.
But behind the scenes, Facebook ad library data indicate the Voter Participation Center’s ad campaign is deployed with partisan intent. The group has instructed Facebook to exclude from the reach of its ads anyone with expressed interests in 26 categories typically associated with Republican men, including the "PGA Tour," "Indianapolis 500," "Daytona 500," "Tom Clancy," "Modified Jeeps," "Duck Dynasty," and others.
The Voter Participation Center has spent more than $760,000 on a staggering 8,235 Facebook ads over the past 90 days in the swing states of Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia, according to the Facebook ad library.
The Voter Participation Center did not respond to a request for comment asking why it excludes fans of NASCAR and Golf, which, according to a 2013 study, are the two most Republican-leaning sports leagues in the country, from receiving its information on how to vote.
On the other hand, the Voter Participation Center has instructed Facebook to ensure its ads target audiences interested in a wide variety of topics typically associated with liberal audiences, including "African-American Literature," "Jordan Peele," "Taylor Swift," "Patagonia," and "hot yoga."
Capital Research president Scott Walter said it was little surprise that the Voter Participation Center is microtargeting its voter registration ads to prevent Republican audiences from seeing the message, saying the group has a history of exploiting IRS nonprofit rules to give Democrats an electoral edge. After all, Tom Lopach, former executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and former chief of staff to Sen. Jon Tester (D., Mont.), runs the organization.
In addition, Walter noted, the group’s tax filings further betray its covert partisan leanings. From 2020 through 2022, the Voter Participation Center has paid more than $17.8 million for services from Mission Control, a microtargeting firm that touts itself as "the most successful direct mail firm working in Democratic politics today. Mission Control has claimed credit for delivering Democratic wins in hotly contested House, Senate, and Gubernatorial races.
During that same three-year timeframe, the Voter Participation Center paid nearly $40 million to the Pivot Group, another Democratic microtargeting firm that claims credit for "winning races from the municipal level to Congress and from the Statehouse to the Statewide office."
"Voter Participation Center has laughed at the line forbidding partisan voter registration for years. Their partisan ad targeting fits with their using Democratic microtargeting firms. Will they ever be held accountable?" Walter told the Washington Free Beacon. "In an age of microtargeting and zero accountability, charities should not be allowed to register voters or get out the vote, period."
The Voter Participation Center receives funding from a cavalcade of prominent liberal dark money groups, including the Hopewell Fund, a branch of the Arabella Advisors dark money network, and the Tides Foundation, according to Influence Watch.
The Voter Participation Center has a long history of leveraging aggressive tactics to turn out Democratic voters to the polls. In 2018, it ran mailers to voters in swing districts threatening to expose them to their neighbors if they chose not to participate in that year’s election, saying public records would show whether or not they cast a ballot.
"Who you vote for is private, but whether or not you vote is public record," read a 2018 mailer from its partner organization, the Center for Voter Information, the Free Beacon reported. "We’re sending this mailing to you and your neighbors to share who does and does not vote in an effort to promote election participation."