The Federalist has taken a stand against PolitiFact’s recent fact-check on its article about the alleged private takeover of election offices in Georgia by Democrats. PolitiFact’s Amy Sherman challenged the Federalist’s claim that a $2 million grant from the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) to DeKalb County amounted to a “private takeover of election offices.” In response, the Federalist accused PolitiFact of playing semantics to protect the Democrats while overlooking crucial details in their report.
In the original article, the Federalist detailed how DeKalb County officials violated the spirit of state law by accepting the CTCL grant, which was part of the $80 million U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence initiative.
— David Stone (@RawkRari) March 18, 2023
The article argued that left-wing nonprofits like CTCL aimed to “systematically influence every aspect of election administration” and advance Democrat-backed voting policies in local election offices. However, Sherman stated that the Federalist’s claim of a “takeover” was false, as local election officials would still administer elections based on state laws.
The Federalist countered by asserting that they never suggested CTCL or the Alliance would be in “total control” of local election offices. Instead, they argued that the issue was left-wing nonprofits’ influence in altering election administration to benefit Democrats. The Federalist also criticized PolitiFact for neglecting to mention that less than 1% of CTCL’s 2020 funds were spent on personal protective equipment. This fact could have cast doubt on the organization’s intentions.
Further illustrating the alleged bias in PolitiFact’s fact-checking, the Federalist highlighted Sherman’s history of dubious fact-checks. One example involved the claim by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) that Alaska’s ranked-choice voting system led to a Democratic victory, despite nearly 60% of voters supporting a Republican candidate in the first round. Sherman rated Cotton’s claim as “Mostly False” because his comment only applied to the first round of voting, not the final round.
Another instance saw Sherman dismiss a claim by 2022 Arizona GOP Senate candidate Blake Masters that Democrats’ support for an open U.S. southern border was an electoral strategy to “bring in and amnesty tens of millions of illegal aliens.” Instead, Sherman rated Masters’ claim “False” by trying to argue that the U.S.-Mexico border was secure, despite Joe Biden’s lax border policies leading to record numbers of encounters at America’s southern border.
These instances demonstrate PolitiFact’s bias and selective reporting, which the Federalist argues is part of a larger pattern of legacy media distorting the truth to promote their leftist agenda. In the case of the Federalist’s original article, PolitiFact’s attempt to discredit their reporting on the CTCL grant in DeKalb County is another example of the media’s efforts to silence the voice of all who dare to oppose the leftist narrative.
