Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX who has joined Republican Donald Trump’s candidacy for the White House, has pledged to give $1 million a day to voters to sign a political action committee petition supporting the Constitution. The offer has raised questions among election experts about the legality of the plan.
Some experts say it’s against the law to link cash handouts to signing petitions that also require people to be registered to vote. A message seeking comment was left with the PAC on Sunday, as was a request for comment from the Justice Department.
Musk, the world’s richest man with a fortune of $ 242 billion, has committed at least $ 70 million to the former president’s re-election and is now working to get voters in swing states to support Trump. The owner of X previously offered support $47 for each registered voter in the seven battleground states that they can ask to sign his proposal, a nod to the fact that the winner of the November 5 election will be the nation’s 47th president.
“While some of the other things Musk has done are of murky legality, this is clearly illegal,” wrote Rick Hasen, UCLA Law School political science professor, on the Election Law Blog, about the $1 million per day bounty.
He pointed to laws that prohibit paying people to register to vote or to vote.
“The problem is that the only people who are eligible to participate in this giveaway are people who are registered to vote. And that makes it illegal,” said Hasen in a telephone interview.
Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, a former state attorney general, expressed concern about Musk’s $1 million gift plan on Sunday.
“I have a real question about how he spends money in this race, how dark money flows, not only to Pennsylvania, but apparently now to the pockets of Pennsylvanians. That’s the first thing, “Said on NBC” Meet the press.”
Elon Musk’s PAC petition
Musk promised on Saturday that he would give $1 million a day, until the November 5 election, to people who signed a PAC petition supporting the First Amendment, which protects free speech, and the Second Amendment, with the right to “keep and raise our hands.”
He was awarded a check during an event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to a person identified as John Dreher. A message left with a number listed for Dreher was not returned Sunday. Musk handed out another check Sunday.
Musk’s America PAC has launched a tour of Pennsylvania, a critical electoral battleground. He aimed to register voters in support of Trump, which Musk has endorsed. The PAC is also pushing to woo voters in other key states.
Trump, who campaigned Sunday in Pennsylvania, was asked about Musk’s gift, and said, “I haven’t followed through.” Trump said “speak a lot with Elon. He is a friend of mine” and called him a great man for the country.
Legal problems with Musk’s $1 million gift
Among the election law experts raising red flags about the gifts is Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance attorney, who noted the latest iteration of Musk’s gifts is approaching legal limits.
This is because the PAC requires registration as a prerequisite in order to receive the $1 million check. “There is some doubt about the legality that every Pennsylvania-based petition signer is eligible, but the payment conditions at registration may be against the law,” Fischer said in an email.
Michael Kang, professor of electoral law at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, said the context of the giveaway so close to Election Day makes it harder to make a case that the effort is nothing but incentivizing people to register to vote.
“It’s not the same as paying people to vote, but you’re close enough that we’re concerned about legality,” Kang said.
Normally coordination between campaigns and so-called super PACs has been prohibited. But a new opinion from the Federal Election Commissioner, which regulates federal campaigns, allows candidates and groups to work together in certain cases, including efforts to get elected.
