Osborn, Powell Tied to Questionable ActBlue Donations From 88-Year-Old Widow Living in Squalor

by Matt Johnson

(Picture credit Michigan Enjoyer)

In races for higher office, where campaign spending often climbs into the millions of dollars, candidates regularly tout small-dollar donations as proof of their grassroots support.

“A grassroots campaign of everyday Nebraskans outraised a family of billionaires by a million dollars with an average donation of just $40,” U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn said after his last fundraising haul was published. Osborn is running as an Independent against incumbent Republican Pete Ricketts.

One of these small donations came from a woman named Elizabeth Waffle.

According to a story in the Michigan Enjoyer, Waffle is an 88-year-old widow from Milan, Michigan, who has lived in a trailer since her home burned down two years ago. She subsists on a modest pension, does not own a computer, and has spotty internet connection on her property.

But according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) records, 14,696 donations were made in her name through ActBlue—the primary online fundraising platform used by Democratic candidates and progressive groups.

The contributions totaled more than $150,000 over the past five years—an average of about eight donations of $9.18 every single day. Waffle was completely unaware of most of the donations made in her name.

“One hundred and fifty thousand?” Waffle said. “Hell no. I don’t have that kind of money.”

The thousands of contributions appear to be “straw donations”—contributions made by one individual but reported under another person’s name. The practice is often used to disguise the true source of funds and bypass legal limits or disclosure requirements. Straw donations are illegal under federal election law.

“$150,000 is very abnormal, and I think it’s wrong. I think there’s something in there that is off,” Waffle said when confronted by a reporter about her donation history.

Waffle, who lives in squalor, told the reporter that she was trying to scrounge money together to try and get someone to mow her lawn.

The Plains Sentinel was unable to reach Waffle for comment at a phone number associated with her.

(Picture credit Michigan Enjoyer)

According to FEC filings, some of these donations went to candidates in Nebraska: Osborn’s 2024 Senate campaign received over half a dozen small dollar donations from Waffle through ActBlue, while his exploratory committee received multiple donations from Waffle last year.

Denise Powell, who is the Democratic nominee in CD-2, received $20 in donations from Waffle through ActBlue and Chris Backemeyer, the Democratic nominee in CD-1, had $40 in donations from the widow processed through the platform.

The Plains Sentinel reached out to Powell, Osborn, and Backemeyer for comment but has not received a response.

More Straw Donations

The straw donations from Waffle might not be a one-off either. In another investigation by the Michigan Enjoyer, Linda D. Appling, a 77-year-old retiree in Lansing, lives in humble circumstances and yet had $82,000 in donations made in her name through ActBlue that were donated to Democratic candidates.

One of those transactions was a $20 donation to Powell. Appling said she has made some donations through ActBlue, but certainly not $82,000.

“I’ve donated some money for sure,” she said. “But not this amount.” Appling said she could only recall giving donations of around $2.50 to candidates.

In conversations with The Plains Sentinel, political insiders said it is hard to gauge whether fraud through ActBlue is happening on a large scale or whether its a handful of isolated incidents. Part of difficulty arises because the platform has few safeguards, allowing bad actors to exploit it.

The Plains Sentinel spoke with Kendra Arnold, the executive director of the nonprofit Foundation for Accountability and Civic Trust (FACT), who said ActBlue requires little verification before accepting donations through its platform.

“Historically, it’s been up to the person making the donation to certify who they are — that they’re eligible, that they’re a U.S. citizen, and so on. You check those boxes: ‘I’m a U.S. citizen. Here’s my address. I am who I am.’ And you make the donation,” Arnold said. “So historically, the legal responsibility has rested on the person making the contribution.”

“Unfortunately, in recent years, with solicitations by phone and email, and sites like ActBlue where you can make contributions without any in-person verification, there’s an opening for bad actors to make a lot of small donations in someone else’s name. We’d expect ActBlue and similar organizations to have digital safeguards, like any other company would — but in reality, there’s not much there.”

Arnold said that more safeguards need to be put in place because “anyone could manipulate the system.”

ActBlue Under Investigation

ActBlue has come under scrutiny recently over allegations that its platform allows straw donations. Last year, President Trump ordered the Attorney General and Secretary of the Treasury to investigate the platform, claiming “significant fraud” from foreign actors.

Congress is also conducting its own investigation into the platform. On June 10, ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones was called to testify before Congress on the matter. She invoked her Fifth Amendment right 22 times, declining to answer nearly all substantive questions.

“Invoking the Fifth Amendment is not an admission or even an insinuation of guilt,” she said in a video explaining her silence before Congress. “It is the only reasonable response to a highly partisan proceeding that is about harassing its largest political opponent’s fund-raising platform.”

— Matt Johnson is a freelance reporter with The Plains Sentinel.