A top election law expert says Elon Musk is breaking the law by giving away $1 million to a number of registered voters in Pennsylvania and other swing states who sign his PAC’s petition.
At a rally in Harrisburg, PA Saturday, Musk announced plans to give out $1 million per day up until the election to signers of a petition from his America PAC pledging to uphold the right to free speech and the right to bear arms. However, per the terms set out at the petition link, the giveaway is only open to registered voters in the seven swing states.
“To be eligible, both the referrer and the petition signer must be registered voters of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin,” the fine print of the petition states.
UCLA law professor Rick Hasen, in a post on his Election Law Blog site Saturday night, argued that because registering to vote is a required provision for eligibility, Musk is breaking the law with his gambit.
“Though maybe some of the other things Musk was doing were of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal,” Hasen wrote.
The professor cited 52 U.S.C. 10307(c), which says that anyone who “pay[s] or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote” is breaking the law. He also quoted from the DOJ election crimes manual, which defines a bribe as “anything having monetary value, including cash, liquor, lottery chances, and welfare benefits such as food stamps.” The manual added, “For an offer or a payment to violate Section 10307(c), it must have been intended to induce or reward the voter for engaging in one or more acts necessary to cast a ballot.”