Video shows Kamala Harris saying Democrats would use taxpayer dollars to bribe voters.
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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks as she meets with voting rights leaders on Feb. 27, 2024. (AP)
No, Kamala Harris did not say Democrats are bribing voters with federal work study funds
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Federal work study funds can be used to pay students who register voters, but not for a specific political party, according to federal regulations.
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Harris did not say that federal work study funds could be used to pay people to register Democrats or bribe voters.
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Vice President Kamala Harris did not reveal Democrats’ plan to bribe voters in the 2024 election, as social media posts claimed. A video of a speech she gave has been taken out of context.
"The federal work study program now allows students to get paid through federal work study to register people and to be nonpartisan poll workers," Harris said in a Fox News clip shared Feb. 28 on Instagram. "As we know this is important for a number of reasons. One, to engage our young leaders in this process and activate them in terms of their ability to strengthen our community."
Misleading and misspelled text under the video said, "Democrats using tax payer dollars to bribe voters."
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
The clip comes from Feb. 27 remarks Harris delivered to voting rights activists in Washington, D.C. In the full video, Harris did not say that students will be employed to register people for a specific political party. She said that poll workers would be "nonpartisan."
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Federal regulations bar federal work study funds from being used to support any political party.
A 2022 Education Department memo specified that although federal work study funds can be used for voter registration efforts, guidelines limit how.
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Federal work study funds "cannot be used for employment by a Federal, State, or local public agency, or a private nonprofit organization, other than the institution, for work involving partisan or nonpartisan political activity, including party-affiliated voter registration activities, as this is expressly prohibited under 34 CFR 675.22(b)(5)," wrote Michelle Asha Cooper, then-acting assistant secretary for the Office of Postsecondary Education.
The department clarified in February that federal work study funds cannot be used for any voter registration activities that are "associated with a particular interest or group."
We rate the claim that this video shows Harris saying Democrats would use taxpayer dollars to bribe voters False.
Our Sources
Instagram post (archived), Feb. 28, 204
The White House, Remarks by Vice President Harris Before Meeting with Voting Rights Leaders to Discuss the Fight for Voting Rights and Other Fundamental Freedoms, Feb. 27, 2024
U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid, (Gen-22-05) Requirements for Distribution of Voter Registration Forms, April 21, 2022
Cornell Law School, 34 CFR § 675.22 - Employment provided by a Federal, State, or local public agency, or a private nonprofit organization, accessed March 6, 2024
U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid, (Gen-24-03) Use of Federal Work-Study Funds for Voter Registration, Feb. 26, 2024
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No, Kamala Harris did not say Democrats are bribing voters with federal work study funds
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