Elon Musk Test Limits of Election Law With Shady New Pro-Trump Ploy
Elon Musk has promised to give away $1 million to one lucky registered swing state voter every day until Election Day. Now, critics and politicians are sounding the alarms over the legality of Musk’s scheme.
At a campaign event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Musk announced his America PAC’s $1 million bribe.
“We want to try to get over a million, maybe 2 million voters in the battleground states to sign the petition in support of the First and Second Amendment.… We are going to be awarding $1 million randomly to people who have signed the petition, every day, from now until the election,” said Musk.
How’s this legal?
Elon Musk just announced that his Super PAC will be awarding a million dollars every day until the election to registered Pennsylvania voters who signed his Super PAC petition. pic.twitter.com/ZOX0IYvnvH
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) October 20, 2024
This is just one more escalation in Musk’s ridiculous money-sink into Donald Trump’s election campaign. Musk has nearly entirely funded the Trump-focused America PAC, pouring $75 million of his own dollars into the Republican candidate’s voter outreach efforts.
It’s a federal crime to pay people to vote or to register to vote. According to a Justice Department manual, that includes both direct payments and lottery-style giveaways. If Musk was on thin ice with his promise to pay people to refer swing voters to sign the America PAC’s petition, now he might really be in trouble as he skirts the gray zone in election law.
“Elon Musk thinks your vote can be bought,” said Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a Democratic event on Sunday, joining the chorus of people questioning the $1 million prize.
On Sunday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro called Musk’s move “deeply concerning” and suggested that law enforcement should examine the ploy. “I think it’s something that law enforcement should take a look at. I’m not the attorney general any more of Pennsylvania, I’m the governor, but it does raise serious questions.”
According to Rick Hasen, a UCLA law professor, though Musk’s previous actions through the PAC “were of murky legality,” he believes this prize “clearly illegal” because the only people eligible for the lottery are registered voters in battleground states.
To be eligible for the $1 million, one must have signed the America PAC petition in “support of the Constitution, especially freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.” They also must be a registered voter and live in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin.
On Monday, Musk bragged that new Republican voter registration is crushing that of Democrats.
It would be such a shame if Democrats also signed Musk’s petitions and made themselves eligible for the giveaway …
