‘Bribery at its best’: Elon Musk offers $1 million a day to people who sign his pro-Trump PAC petition
Elon Musk’s latest shady and legally questionable initiative is to award $1 million a day to people who sign his pro-Trump PAC petition until Election Day.
Musk, the founder of Tesla and owner of X, recently officially endorsed Donald Trump for president. He even made his debut at a Trump rally, where he gave viewers secondhand embarrassment by professing himself to be “dark MAGA.” For months, he has been attempting to influence the election in favor of Trump, allowing conspiracy theories and misinformation to spread like wildfire on X and launching unhinged attacks on Kamala Harris. He has made disturbing “jokes” about the lack of assassination attempts on Harris, posted AI-generated deepfakes to misrepresent her, and even took to hampering hurricane relief efforts by spreading outlandish theories that the Biden-Harris administration drained FEMA funds to give to immigrants.
Now, he has taken his interference even further by pledging to give away a million dollars a day in a bid to sway pro-Trump supporters to register to vote in swing states.
Elon Musk bribes voters in swing states to sign his pro-Trump petition
On October 19, Musk announced his plan to give away a million dollars daily to someone in a swing who registers to vote and signs his pro-Trump PAC petition. The petition for his political action committee clearly lays out the purpose of Musk’s initiative. It states, “Our goal is to get 1 million registered voters in swing states to sign in support of the Constitution, especially freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.”
The program is exclusively open to registered voters in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina. Since one must be a registered voter to sign the petition for a chance to win $1 million, it could be seen as Musk bribing citizens to register to vote. So far, two signers have been awarded $1 million. Meanwhile, that’s not the only financial compensation Musk is offering. He also provides $47 for every registered voter one refers to the petitition. There’s also a current “special offer” for Pennsylvania voters, offering them $100 just for signing the petition and another $100 for every petition signer they refer.
Naturally, the petition has raised a lot of concerns, given the signs of bribery. Musk is wading into dangerous territory by making the sweepstakes exclusive to those registered to vote in swing states. If everyone were permitted to participate, it wouldn’t be so concerning. However, when offering anywhere from $47 – $1 million exclusively to registered voters, it sounds a lot like paying them in exchange for registering. Meanwhile, federal law stipulates it is a crime for anyone who “pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting.” Breaking this law could result in a $10,000 fine or a five-year prison sentence. Not only could Musk face legal charges, but also the individuals accepting his payments.
Pennsylvania Gov. Joshua Shapiro was one of several individuals who labeled Musk’s initiative “deeply concerning” and called for a law enforcement investigation. CNN spoke to several experts who agree with Shapiro’s concerns. Election law expert Derek Mueller pointed out how the exclusivity of the sweepstakes is fairly incriminating, while a former Justice Department official stated Musk’s actions are precisely what the federal statute was “designed to criminalize.” Musk may be using a petition to hide that he’s purchasing voter registration, but it’s not a very good guise. Many agree that what Musk is doing may be thinly veiled bribery at best and illegal voter registration payment at worst.
It remains to be seen if any legal action will be taken against Musk, but his shady PAC petition initiative is a strong indicator that his interference in the election is getting out of hand.
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