A voter registration group aligned with Democrats is led by a political operative convicted of voter fraud who now works for indicted New York City mayor Eric Adams, the Washington Free Beacon has learned.
Civic Innovation Works, a New York-based nonprofit, is using a variety of tactics to turn out voters in battleground states like North Carolina, Georgia, and Arizona, according to analysis of its Facebook ads. At the center of its efforts is a contest offering two tickets to Taylor Swift's November concert in Indianapolis. To qualify, entrants are required to enter their personal information—name, physical address, email address, phone number, and date of birth—in order to "check" whether they are registered to vote.
"Taylor’s got a message: Register to vote! Check your registration status, and you could win 2 tickets to her Nov 3rd show in Indianapolis. Are you in?" the ad reads.
Civic Innovation does not publicly declare a party affiliation, but the Swift-themed contest appears aimed at getting Democratic voters to the polls, leaning into the pop superstar’s recent endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris. Civic Innovation is running the contest in conjunction with TargetSmart, a prominent Democratic data firm, and Vote.org, a "nonpartisan" charity that has historically aligned with liberal causes.
The group's leader, Tate Hausman, also has ties to Democrats, having worked in the Adams administration since February 2023, according to his LinkedIn. His work for Adams, however, is not his connection to political controversy.
Hausman, a New York native, pleaded guilty to voter fraud in 2009 after he illegally claimed residency in Ohio to vote for Barack Obama. Hausman, who helmed a different voter registration group at the time, said he believed he was allowed to vote legally in the Buckeye State, but the judge in his case said he was "skeptical" that Hausman was ignorant of the law. The operative was fined $1,000 and sentenced to one year of probation, according to reports.
Years later, in 2016, the IRS granted Civic Innovation Works tax-exempt status, disclosures show. The group's tax returns filed that year list Hausman as president, as does the group's most recent filing.
The get-out-the-vote work appears to be a side hustle for Hausman, who now serves as head of Adams's Public Engagement Office, according to the mayor's website. Adams was indicted last month for allegedly accepting donations from Turkish nationals in exchange for political favors. Hausman has not been named in connection with the case, and there is no evidence he was involved.
The Swift ticket contest began on Sept. 16 and will run through Oct. 21, according to Civic Innovation. The winner will be selected on Oct. 22 and notified by email or text message, though Civic Innovation does not say in its contest rules how winners will be selected.
Civic Innovation Works has funded other deceptive election tactics before. Tax records show the group gave $127,765 in 2020 to Piedmont Rising, a North Carolina-based activist group that came under scrutiny for airing fake news segments to attack Republican senator Thom Tillis. A watchdog group called the content of the ads "misleading," and a board member of Piedmont Rising resigned over the tactics.
Hausman also serves as treasurer of Civic Innovation Works's related super PAC, Civic Innovation USA. A small group of Democratic donors account for nearly all of the PAC’s revenues, according to campaign finance disclosures. Google co-founder Eric Schmidt contributed $150,000 to the super PAC in 2020, and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz has given nearly $1.1 million since 2016. The super PAC has not received any donations since 2020, save for $515 from Hausman earlier this year. It is unclear whether it has received campaign donations since its most recent campaign disclosure on June 30. The organization and Hausman did not respond to requests for comment.
Democrats have leaned heavily on Taylor Swift’s endorsement for Harris to register voters. Vote.org officials said the group saw a sixfold increase in voter signups at its website after Swift endorsed Harris. Vote.org did not respond to a request for comment about its latest collaboration with Civic Innovation Works.
Other liberal voter drive groups have embraced eyebrow-raising tactics in order to sign up new voters. When We All Vote, a get-out-the-vote group founded by Michelle Obama, has targeted Facebook ads to fans of hip-hop stars Chris Brown and Tory Lanez, known for violently beating their girlfriends. The Voter Participation Center, a self-described "nonpartisan" voter registration group, has intentionally blocked its Facebook ads from reaching users interested in NASCAR, golf, and Jeeps—genres typically associated with conservative men.