It has been revealed in The Washington Examiner that NBC just partnered with a Democrat-founded political data firm ahead of the 2016 election, a move that boldly declares its liberal leanings.

However, an NBC press release on Tuesday stated that the partnership with TargetSmart will "enhance election coverage and study the voting process in America in depth." In an e-mail to the Examiner, a spokesperson said, "TargetSmart serves as an aggregator to provide public, nonpartisan voter data. Our election team will use it for our own independent analysis."

But exactly how nonpartisan and independent is this voter data? According to the report, not very. Columnist Eddie Scarry elaborates:

Data provided by TargetSmart, which was founded in 2006 by veteran Democratic operatives Jeff Ferguson and Paula Kowalczuk, will allow NBC News "to perform non-partisan analysis, research voting habits, and identify voting trends at the state and local levels," the release said.

But TargetSmart is also in business with the DNC, all the way through the 2016 election. In August 2014, the data firm announced that it had been hired by the DNC to "to help elect Democrats up and down the ballot and across the nation."

TargetSmart's CEO Drew Brighton said at the time, "We continue to enhance and innovate the Democratic Party's data infrastructure, which will allow the Democratic Party to maintain their strategic advantage …

Even Mediaite is questioning the conglomeration: "Is NBC Even Hiding Its Liberal Bias at This Point?"