- Elon Musk is promising to give $1 million to a voter-a-day in swing States ahead of the 2024 US Presidential Elections.
- The tech billionaire has opened up the offer to registered voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.
- Many have questioned the legality of the move, which is garnering signatures for a petition penned by Musk’s America PAC.
Elon Musk has been canvassing intensely for Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump ahead of the US elections on 5th November 2024.
The tech billionaire has been throwing a lot of money behind Trump via his recently formed America PAC, and the latest ploy has been to court signatures on a petition with the lure of $1 million.
More specifically at the weekend during a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Musk handed out a $1 million check to an audience member.
He also noted that he would be dolling out $1 million to a voter-a-day in a bid to garner more signatures on a petition penned by the aforementioned America PAC.
The politically-focused organisation is seeking to keep the rights regarding free speech and gun ownership intact as they are written within the US’ first and second amendments, which has become an increasingly divisive issue for Republican and Democrat voters given the sheer volume of misinformation/hate speech online and mass shootings Stateside.
The petition is only open to those in the United States, with the added caveat of being available to registered voters in key swing States of Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.
Naturally this has caused some to question the legality of such an offer, and while an official ruling on the matter has not been laid out, some law experts have weighed in.
“Though maybe some of the other things Musk was doing were of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal,” wrote UCLA political science professor, Rick Hasen, in a blog post.
He cited specific voting law – 52 U.S.C. 10307(c), which states that, “Whoever knowingly or willfully gives false information as to his name, address or period of residence in the voting district for the purpose of establishing his eligibility to register or vote, or conspires with another individual for the purpose of encouraging his false registration to vote or illegal voting, or pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both…”
As such, the $1 million that Musk is offering potentially violates the above law. The tech billionaire may try to get off on a technicality, however, as although the offer is linked to his America PAC and is seeking signatures on a politically-focused petition, it is doing so for voters who are already registered.
While it remains to be seen whether officials or Attorney General’s in the swing States listed above will look into the matter, it is clear that Musk is doing everything in his power to get as much support for Trump ahead of the US elections, which are only a few weeks away.
“I’ve also learned that to get the $100 bounty one also must be a petition signer. And who can sign the petitions? Only registered voters in swing states, which is what makes it illegal,” Hasen added in an update to his post.
While the UCLA professor is convinced that the petition sweepstakes by Musk is illegal, it will be interesting to see if lawmakers are of the same opinion. That said, with so little time between now and the elections, can any action be taking against Musk to stop this?
