During a rally in Pittsburgh Saturday night, Elon Musk — the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and the owner of the social media platform X — announced he would randomly give $1 million to Pennsylvania voters every day through Election Day on Nov. 5. He gave away his first check to a man identified as John Dreher, and a second Sunday afternoon to a woman named Kristine Fishella, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.
In order to qualify for Musk’s self-funded sweepstakes, you have to be registered to vote in Pennsylvania and sign a petition from his political action committee to support two constitutional amendements — the freedom of speech and the freedom to bear arms. Musk also said he would expand his lottery to include voters from six other battleground states — Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.
It’s the first part — the requirement that someone be registered to vote — which some experts are calling illegal. According to federal law, it is illegal for someone who “pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting,” with penalties including a fine up to $10,000 and up to five years in prison.”
“Though maybe some of the other things Musk was doing were of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal,” UCLA Law School political science professor Rick Hasen wrote on his Election Law Blog Saturday. Hasen told the Associated Press what makes Musk’s $1 million payment illegal is he’s only offering it to people who are registered to vote. “If all he was doing was paying people to sign the petition, that might be a waste of money. But there’s nothing illegal about it,” Hasen said.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called Musk’s payments “deeply concerning” and said law enforcement should investigate whether they are legal.
In 2020, Mark Zuckerberg spent $400M+, not to mention Act Blue. Dems/Meet the Press were okay with it.
— Eddie (@Eddies_X) October 20, 2024
But they’re mad at @elonmusk’s giveaways to petition-signers
Josh Shapiro: It's dark money “It raises serious questions...something that law enforcement could take a look at" pic.twitter.com/uXNH8feCun
“Musk obviously has a right to be able to express his views. He’s made it very, very clear that he supports Donald Trump,” Shapiro said on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday. “I don’t deny him that right, but when you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions that folks might want to look at.”
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