Why Elon Musk is giving away $1 million a day

Elon Musk’s political action committee will give away $US1 million to a random person who signs his petition, every day until the election.

The world’s richest person is giving away $US1 million ($1.49 million) a day in the key state of Pennsylvania as he tries to sway the election in favour of Donald Trump.

Elon Musk, who is bankrolling America PAC, a Super PAC supporting Mr Trump’s 2024 US election campaign, made the announcement in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania yesterday.

He revealed he would be giving away $1 million each day randomly to a registered voter who had signed his organisation’s petition in the state.

SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk speaks during a town hall for Republican presidential nominee, former US President Donald Trump. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Musk, who endorsed Mr Trump in July, is one of the Biden administration’s fiercest critics and has emerged as a loud voice in US politics since taking over Twitter, now known as X.

The Tesla and SpaceX CEO has taken an increasingly visible role in Mr Trump’s campaign and has donated almost $US75 million ($111 million) to his political organisation America PAC.

“I have a surprise for you, which is that we are going to be awarding a million dollars, randomly, to people who have signed the petition, every day from now until the election,” Mr Musk said to cheers from the crowd.

“One of the challenges we’re having is, how do we get people to know about this petition? Because the legacy media won’t report on it... this news, I think, is going to really fly.”

Mr Musk, who has an enormous estimated net worth of $368 billion and is using it in an unprecedented manner, then handed out a oversized cheque to John Dreher, the first winner.

Elon Musk hands over a cheque to John Dreher. Picture: X

The petition he is referring to reads: “The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. By signing below, I am pledging my support for the First and Second Amendments.”

The move appears to be a way to incentivise Republicans to register to vote.

This is because, in the small print, the petition states you must be a registered voter to sign the petition, which has raised the eyebrows of legal experts and Democratic politicians.

And it’s that small print which could land the Super PAC in trouble.

Legal scholar and professor Richard Hasen wore that the move was “clearly illegal”, citing 52 U.S.C. 10307(c) which bars the people from inducing others to register to vote with payments.

“Though maybe some of the other things Musk was doing were of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal,” he wrote.

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, said there were “real questions” about how Mr Musk was spending money in the race.

“... dark money is flowing, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians. That is deeply concerning,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Mr Musk’s PAC has been outsourced to run Mr Trump’s ground operation, funding people to doorknock in swing states.

However, much of that money could be going to waste with reports that some canvassers were inflating their numbers and struggling to reach daily objectives.

About a quarter of doorknocks in Nevada this week were flagged as “unusual survey logs” according to the app Campaign Sidekick, which can be used as a tool to detect fraudulent behaviour, The Guardian reports.

There are also reports the Super PAC has been struggling to find enough workers.

America PAC denied there was widespread fraud and issues with workers to run its doorknocking campaign.

- with AFP

Originally published as Why Elon Musk is giving away $1 million a day