Elon Musk: Billionaire’s $1 Million a Day State Donation Is ‘Very Concerning’

Tech billionaire Elon Musk said he would offer $1 million a day to a registered voter in key states until the November 5 US presidential election.

The winner will be chosen at random from signatories to a petition in support of the US Constitution launched by Mr Musk’s campaign group, AmericaPAC, which he created to support Republican candidate Donald Trump in his bid to return to the White House.

The first lottery-style check was handed out to a surprised person at a public meeting in Pennsylvania on Saturday evening. Another check was distributed on Sunday.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who supports Kamala Harris, called Mr. Musk’s strategy “deeply disturbing.”

Mr. Shapiro told NBC News’ Meet the Press that legal authorities would eventually have to look into the payments.

The contest is open to voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina, all key states that will decide the election to the White House.

Election law expert Rick Hasen wrote on his personal blog Election Law Blog that he believed Mr. Musk’s offer was “clearly illegal.”

Federal law states that any person who “pays, offers to pay, or accepts payment to register to vote or to vote” is subject to a $10,000 fine or a five-year prison sentence. imprisonment.

Although Mr. Musk technically asks voters to sign a form, Mr. Hasen questions the intention behind this strategy.

“Who can sign the petitions? Only registered voters in swing states, which makes this practice illegal,” said Mr. Hasen, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law.

Signers to the petition — who pledge to support free speech and gun rights — are asked to provide contact information, which could allow AmericaPAC to contact them about their vote.

Both Mr. Musk and AmericaPAC have been contacted for comment.

Campaigns and political action committees rely on tactics like signing petitions, asking for polls, or purchasing merchandise to build massive databases of voter information. This data can then be used more precisely to target voters or raise funds from existing supporters.

In Pennsylvania, Mr. Musk is offering voters $100 for signing the petition, plus an additional $100 for each person they recommend who signs the petition. Electors in other warring states receive $47 per person recommended.

This strategy, however, could be covered by a loophole in U.S. election law, because no one is directly paid to vote, although money is fed into a process that could help identify likely Trump voters.

In the United States, it is illegal to make payments to induce people to vote – not only for a certain candidate, but also for a simple ballot.

This rule prompted ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s to hand out its product for free to everyone on Election Day in 2008, when it had initially planned to limit it to people with an “I Voted” sticker. .

While campaigning on Sunday, Mr. Trump was asked about Mr. Musk’s offer.

“I didn’t follow that,” he said, adding that he spoke to Mr. Musk often and was a “friend.”

The founder of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, formerly Twitter, has become one of Mr. Trump’s main supporters.

Mr. Musk launched AmericaPAC in July in an effort to support the former president’s campaign.

To date, he has donated $75m (£57.5m) to the group, which has quickly become a central player in Mr Trump’s election campaign.

Mr. Trump’s campaign relies heavily on outside groups such as AmericaPAC to canvass voters.

A statement on the group’s website says “AmericaPAC was created to support Donald Trump’s election campaign: “AmericaPAC was created to support these key values: Secure Borders, Safe Cities, Reasonable Spending, a Fair Justice System, freedom of expression, right to self-protection”.

Mr. Musk said he wanted “more than a million, maybe two million, voters in election states to sign the petition in support of the First and Second Amendments.”

“I think this sends a crucial message to our elected officials,” he added.

Mr Musk is currently the world’s richest man, with an estimated net worth of $248 billion (£191 billion), according to US business magazine Forbes.