Judge weighs challenge to Elon Musk’s $1 million voter giveaway
2024.11.04 06:30
By Jack Queen
(Reuters) – A judge in the battleground state of Pennsylvania on Monday will weigh whether to stop Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day giveaway to registered voters ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
The hearing comes just one day before Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald Trump will square off in the tightly contested race. Musk and his political action committee are backing Trump.
Since Oct. 19, Tesla (NASDAQ:) CEO Musk has been giving a $1 million check every day to a randomly selected voter who has signed his petition supporting free speech and gun rights.
Musk’s offer is limited to registered voters in the seven states expected to decide the election – Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Musk became an outspoken Trump supporter this year and has promoted the former president on his X social media platform.
Researchers said last week that X has been ineffective in countering a surge in election misinformation.
So far, Musk’s America PAC has awarded $1 million prizes to 16 people and said the final prize will be given on Nov. 5.
Democratic Philadelphia District Attorney Lawrence Krasner sued Musk and his political action committee in state court on Oct. 28 to try to block the giveaway. Krasner, a champion of progressive causes, called the program an illegal lottery that violates state consumer protection laws.
He also alleged that people who receive Musk’s money are “not actually chosen at random,” citing two winners who attended two pro-Trump rallies.
Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania, one of seven battleground states likely to determine the outcome of the race between Trump and Harris. Whichever candidate wins the state will receive its 19 electoral votes out of a total of 270 needed to win.
Musk and his America PAC sought to move the case to federal court, arguing Krasner’s lawsuit raised questions about free-speech rights and election interference that belong in federal court.
But on Friday, U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert in Philadelphia federal court said the case belonged in state court and later that day Judge Angelo Foglietta scheduled a hearing in the case.
The giveaway falls in a gray area of election law, and legal experts are divided on whether Musk could be violating federal laws against paying people to register to vote.
The U.S. Department of Justice has warned America PAC the giveaway could violate federal law, according to media reports, but federal prosecutors have not taken any public action.
Musk has so far given nearly $120 million to America PAC, according to federal disclosures.
The Trump campaign is broadly reliant on outside groups for canvassing voters, meaning the super PAC founded by Musk, the world’s richest man, plays an outsized role in what is expected to be a razor-thin election.
