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Rep. Wes Allen (R-Troy), has pre-filed legislation that would prohibit private funds from being used to fund Alabama’s election process.

Allen’s bill, HB41, would prohibit state or local elections officials from soliciting, accepting or using any donations, grants or services from any private, non-governmental entity, for the purpose of election-related expenses including voter education, outreach or voter registration. The legislation would make any violation of the law a Class B misdemeanor.

“We have now seen evidence that Mark Zuckerberg spent millions of dollars to “assist” local election officials across the country, mostly in liberal-leaning counties, by providing funds and personnel to work in various stages of the elections process,” Allen said. “This absolutely should be banned immediately. No private person or corporation should be involved in the funding, staffing or administration of any aspect of the elections process. Period.”

The Center for Tech and Civic Life distributed grants, funded by Zuckerberg to more than 2,000 counties across the nation. In Alabama, those grants were awarded to Montgomery, Macon, Wilcox, Jefferson, Hale, Dallas and Bullock Counties.

“As a former Probate Judge, I administered 18 elections without a single error and I can tell you that there is no reason to apply for, accept or use any private money for the administration of our elections,” Allen said. “We have to get ahead of this and put a hard stop to it before our next election cycle.”

Allen’s legislation will be considered by the Alabama House of Representatives during their next Regular Session which begins in January, 2022.

Allen is a Republican candidate for the office of Alabama’s Secretary of State. The primary election will be held on May 24.