InfluenceWatch Podcast #332: Voter Participation, Unless You Like NASCAR

The Internal Revenue Service rule regarding charities in voter registration is explicit: “voter education or registration activities with evidence of bias that (a) would favor one candidate over another; (b) oppose a candidate in some manner; or (c) have the effect of favoring a candidate or group of candidates, will constitute prohibited participation or intervention.” Now questions are being raised about whether the Voter Participation Center, a charitable organization that is part of the left’s “voting machine,” is giving “evidence of bias” after the Washington Free Beacon revealed through Meta Platforms’ advertising disclosure tools that VPC was excluding fans of “NASCAR, golf, Jeeps, or other interests and hobbies typically associated with Republican men” from seeing its voter-registration advertisements. Here to discuss this and other stories from the world of dubiously nonpartisan nonpartisan civic engagement are CRC president Scott Walter and Parker Thayer, author of CRC’s special report on “How Charities Secretly Help Win Elections.”
Listen to “Episode 332: Voter Participation, Unless You Like NASCAR” on Spreaker.

• Internal Revenue Service: Restriction of political campaign intervention by Section 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations
• Washington Free Beacon: Do You Like NASCAR? This ‘Non-partisan’ Voter Registration Group Doesn’t Want To Help You
• Washington Free Beacon: Congresswoman Demands IRS Investigation Into ‘Non-Partisan’ Charity That Excluded NASCAR Fans From Voter Registration Efforts
• InfluenceWatch: Voter Participation Center
• Capital Research Center: A Tax-Exempt Turnout Machine for Democrats
• Vox: How Silicon Valley’s secretive donor group plans to beat Trump
• InfluenceWatch: Mind the Gap