{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-werfel-partisan-voter-registration-drives-violate-federal-law", "Cotton to Werfel: Partisan Voter Registration Drives Violate Federal Law", "2024-10-03", "2024", "2024-10", "Republican", "Senate", "AR", "Tom Cotton", "C001095", "www.cotton.senate.gov", "cotton", "https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE\n\nContact: Caroline Tabler or Patrick McCann (202) 224-2353\n\nOctober 3, 2024\n\nCotton to Werfel: Partisan Voter Registration Drives Violate Federal Law\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2014 Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) today wrote a letter to the Internal Revenue Service Commissioner, Danny Werfel urging an investigation into the Voter Participation Center\u2019s alleged partisan activities. This charity is targeting likely Democrat voters while excluding likely Republican voters through its voter-registration ads on social media. The IRS prohibits 501(c)(3) organizations from conducting partisan voter-education or voter-registration activities.\n\nIn part, Senator Cotton wrote:\n\n\u201cAccording to the Washington Free Beacon, the Voter Participation Center is targeting likely Democrat voters and excluding likely Republican voters through its voter-registration ads on social media. The Voter Participation Center has instructed Facebook to exclude users from seeing ads if they expressed interest in \u2018John Wayne,\u2019 \u2018Redneck Mud Club,\u2019 \u2018Daytona 500,\u2019 \u2018Duck Dynasty,\u2019 and other topics associated with conservatives. On the other hand, the group instructed Facebook to target users interested in \u2018hot yoga,\u2019 \u2018Charli XCX\u2019 (who is closely associated with Kamala Harris\u2019s presidential campaign), \u2018Pitchfork Media,\u2019 and other topics that tend to interest progressives.\u201d\n\nFull text of the letter may be found here and below.\n\nOctober 3, 2024\n\nThe Honorable Danny Werfel\n\nCommissioner\n\nInternal Revenue Service\n\n1111 Constitution Avenue, Northwest\n\nWashington, DC 20224\n\nDear Commissioner Werfel,\n\nI write regarding a tax-exempt charity that may be violating federal law. The Voter Participation Center is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization that reportedly engages in partisan voter-registration drives.\n\nThe IRS prohibits 501(c)(3) organizations from conducting partisan voter-education or voter -registration activities. The IRS states that a 501(c)(3) organization may only conduct voter-registration drives \u201cif they are conducted in a neutral, non-partisan manner.\u201d It further warns that a private foundation is subject to a tax if it uses funds for partisan voter-registration drives.\n\nAccording to the Washington Free Beacon, the Voter Participation Center is targeting likely Democrat voters and excluding likely Republican voters through its voter-registration ads on social media. The Voter Participation Center has instructed Facebook to exclude users from seeing ads if they expressed interest in \u201cJohn Wayne,\u201d \u201cRedneck Mud Club,\u201d \u201cDaytona 500,\u201d \u201cDuck Dynasty,\u201d and other topics associated with conservatives. On the other hand, the group instructed Facebook to target users interested in \u201chot yoga,\u201d \u201cCharli XCX\u201d (who is closely associated with Kamala Harris\u2019s presidential campaign), \u201cPitchfork Media,\u201d and other topics that tend to interest progressives.\n\nThe Voter Participation Center has spent over a million dollars on this ad drive. It has also paid over $50 million to Democrat micro-targeting firms. According to 26 U.S. Code \u00a7 4945(d)(2), these partisan expenditures must be taxed.\n\nThe IRS should immediately open an investigation into this organization.\n\nSincerely,\n\nTom Cotton\n\nU.S. Senator\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-07T21:57:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.cotton.senate.gov/news/press-releases/cotton-to-werfel-partisan-voter-registration-drives-violate-federal-law"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.2976180296391249, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}