After selecting weights that put counties that did not apply for the grants on the same trajectory as recipients before 2020, we find that the grants did not substantially increase turnout or Democratic vote share in 2020. (We're using synthetic diff-in-diff weights.)

Using administrative data on which counties applied for and received the grants, we document that counties that supported Clinton in 2016 were substantially more likely to apply for and receive a grant.

The largest private election administration grant program in 2020 (~$350M) was run by the Center for Tech and Civic Life and funded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. This funding has been highly controversial with 24 states banning future grants.

Private donors gave more than $350M to support election administration in 2020. Many critics argued that these grants swung the election from Trump to Biden. In a new paper, @apoorvalal.com and I find that these grants did not provide Democrats a noticeable advantage.

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