Musk accused of illegally paying for votes with $US1 million election giveaway
Washington: Tech billionaire Elon Musk has been accused of illegally paying for votes after saying he would give away $US1 million ($1.49 million) a day to registered voters in Pennsylvania – a key swing state where he is campaigning on behalf of Donald Trump.
In a move designed to help the Republican candidate win the White House, Musk made the announcement at a town hall on Saturday, giving away the first jumbo lottery-style cheque to a surprised attendee at the event.
Elon Musk speaks at Trump campaign event at the Life Centre Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Saturday.Credit: AP
“Every day, from now through Nov 5, @America PAC will be giving away $1M to someone in swing states who signed our petition to support free speech & the right to bear arms!” he also posted on X.
“We want to make sure that everyone in swing states hears about this and I suspect this will ensure they do.”
Under the plan, a winner will be chosen at random from those who sign a petition for his campaign fundraising group AmericaPAC, which was set up to bolster Trump’s election bid ahead of the November 5 poll.
The petition supports free speech and gun rights, but it is also a data mining tool for Trump because anyone who signs provides their contact details, allowing AmericaPAC to contact them about voting.
Musk initially pledged to give $US47 to anyone who signed the petition and then referred a voter in one of the swing states in this year’s election. (The amount was chosen because if Trump wins he will be America’s 47th president.)
But his latest giveaway “veers into clearly illegal vote buying”, according to UCLA election law professor Rick Hasen, by breaching Section 52 of the US Code, which sets out voting laws in America.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, also said the giveaway was “deeply concerning”, telling NBC on Sunday: “It’s something that law enforcement could take a look at.”
According to section 52 of the US code, anyone who knowingly or wilfully “pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $US10,000 or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both”.
Trump supporters at a campaign rally at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.Credit: AP
Hasen also cites the Department of Justice crimes manual, which says that for an offer to violate the code, it “must have been intended to induce or reward the voter for engaging in one or more acts necessary to cast a ballot”.
“Though maybe some of the other things Musk was doing were of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal,” Hasen said.
Musk has not responded to suggestions on his X platform that he is “buying votes” and may be breaking the law.
Two years after posting on social media that Trump should “hang up his hat and sail into the sunset”, Musk has emerged as one of the Republican nominee’s biggest supporters, stumping for the candidate in Pennsylvania.
With polls showing Harris and Trump are neck and neck in Pennsylvania, with just over two weeks left in the campaign, Trump returned to the state for a rally on Saturday, beginning his speech with a meandering riff about golfer Arnold Palmer’s genitals.
“Arnold Palmer was all man, and I say that in all due respect to women – and I love women,” Trump said. “But this guy, this guy, this is a guy that was all man. This man was strong and tough. And I refuse to say it, but when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, ‘Oh my God, that’s unbelievable’.”
He then had a campaign stop at McDonald’s in Bucks County, where he briefly worked the french fry station and later handed orders to a number of drive-through customers.
Harris – who regularly points to Trump’s musings as a sign that he is “unhinged” and unfit for office – will return to Pennsylvania on Monday to rally with Republicans who support her, including former congresswoman Liz Cheney.
Donald Trump (right) speaks about the genitals of the late golfer Arnold Palmer during a rally in Pennsylvania.Credit: AP
Musk endorsed Trump moments after the former president’s near-death experience in July and set up his America super PAC to help him win office.
Through that group, Musk has plunged more than $US70 million ($105 million) into helping Trump and other Republicans, making him one of the biggest donors to the party this campaign season.
He was also a special guest at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania earlier this month, when Trump returned to the scene of the attempted assassination.
Since then, he has held a series of town halls across Pennsylvania, including Saturday night’s event where he gave away the first $US1 million.
Donald Trump holds an order near the drive-thru window during a visit to McDonald’s.Credit: AP
In a video posted by Musk’s super PAC on Sunday, the man who won the money spoke of his experience in a video that also showed him pumping his fists in the air as he walked to the stage to get his cheque.
“Actually meeting Elon, I kind of forgot about the money for a little bit since he’s such an influential figure,” said the softly spoken young man.
“For guys my age who are really working hard every day, it’s really important to get out and vote.”
Pennsylvania is regarded as the most consequential battleground for both the Harris and Trump campaigns.
That’s because it has the most electoral college votes, 19, of all seven swing states (candidates need 270 to win the presidency) and, along with Michigan and Wisconsin, forms part of the critical “blue wall” that Trump won in 2016 and Biden won back for the Democrats in 2020.
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