Billionaire Elon Musk, who has been campaigning in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania on behalf of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, is now handing out millions of dollars to random Pennsylvania voters.
Unsurprisingly, the legality of million-dollar handouts from partisan billionaires is questionable at best — and Musk just might end up ruing the day he started the payouts.
Musk announced during a Saturday town hall that every day until Election Day, he would be handing a one million dollar check to a random Pennsylvanian who signs a petition — put forward by Musk’s recently unveiled America PAC — in support of “free speech and the right to bear arms.” (He later reiterated the offer on X-formerly-Twitter, the social media website he owns.)
As promised, the first of the lottery-sized giant checks was handed out on Saturday evening to an attendee of a rally, according to NBC.
But as it turns out, there’s a reason you never hear about wealthy activists paying voters directly for support: legal experts have been quick to call the lawfulness of the billionaire Trump acolyte’s seven-figure handouts into question, with objections centering on one important stipulation of Musk’s offer: that in order to receive a check, you have to be registered to vote in the state of Pennsylvania.
This means that Musk’s offer is incentivizing folks who aren’t registered to make sure they get registered. And that, argues University of California, Los Angeles Law School political science professor Rick Hasen, crosses a legal red line.
“If all [Musk] was doing was paying people to sign the petition, that might be a waste of money. But there’s nothing illegal about it,” Hasen, who helms UCLA’s Safeguarding Democracy Project, told The Associated Press. “The problem is that the only people eligible to participate in this giveaway are the people who are registered to vote. And that makes it illegal.”
More specifically, Hasen is arguing that Musk’s offer breaches 52 U.S.C. 10307(c), a federal law stipulating that anyone who “pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting” could face fines or even up to five years in jail time.
Though a fine of $10,000 might be measly for the richest man on Earth, imprisonment is nothing to balk at. And any Pennsylvanians who accept the checks under no-strings-attached expectations may be in for a rude surprise themselves.
To be clear, Musk’s offer doesn’t rest on the condition that prospective voters register for a certain party. But as Hasen elsewhere told NBC, the billionaire doesn’t “have to say you have to vote for a particular candidate in order to be breaking this law.”
“It can be to either incentivize people to register or vote,” Hasen added, “or it can be to reward them.”
Pennsylvania’s Democratic governor and former top law enforcement official Josh Shapiro, who has been campaigning for Trump’s Democratic opponent Kamala Harris, said in an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the SpaceX and Tesla CEO’s offer is “deeply concerning” and “something that law enforcement could take a look at.” That said, as it stands, the federal government has yet to announce an inquiry into Musk’s DIY voting lottery.
On X this morning, Musk bragged that “new Republican voter registration last week in Pennsylvania absolutely crushed Democrat voter registration!” (He didn’t provide sourcing for the claim.)
“Let’s GOOOO!!!!!” the billionaire continued, completing the post with a handful of flame emojis. He didn’t link to the petition.
More on Elon and 2024: Elon Musk Is Spreading Dangerous Hurricane Helene Conspiracy Theories
Share This Article