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Musk promises to give $1 million to voters daily
Experts criticize suspected bribery
According to Reuters, Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, promised to donate $1 million every day to people who support the first and second amendments by signing petitions at the Trump campaign event he attended over the weekend.
During the campaign event, Musk stated:
“We hope to get over 1 million, maybe 2 million voters in swing states to sign petitions supporting the first and second amendments. … From now until the election, we will randomly give $1 million to people who sign the petitions.”
The first and second amendments protect the rights of free speech and bearing arms. According to information on the Federal Election Commission’s website, to receive $1 million, petition signers must be registered voters and reside in one of the seven swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The petitions also provide $100 to each registered voter who signs in Pennsylvania and $100 to anyone who recommends a registered voter in Pennsylvania.
Musk donated a $1 million check to a participant named John Dreher at an event held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Saturday. The event was organized by America PAC, a political action committee established by Musk to support Republican candidate Donald Trump in the presidential election.
It is reported that John Dreher was the lucky recipient of the $1 million check on Saturday, and Musk said to him when handing over the check:
“By the way, John had no idea about this before. You’re welcome anyway.”
Furthermore, Musk’s legality in donating to voters is being widely scrutinized. Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor, Josh Shapiro, expressed concern about Musk’s donations to Pennsylvania voters during an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday and called for an investigation by law enforcement agencies.
Derek Muller, an election law expert at the University of Notre Dame Law School, pointed out that Musk’s limitation of the bonus to registered voters appears to be exchanging cash for voter registration, which is likely to raise bribery controversies. However, Muller stated that most states only consider bribery as a criminal offense when it occurs during the act of voting, so federal prosecutors rarely bring election bribery cases, and the Supreme Court has been narrowing the scope of bribery laws.
On the other hand, David Becker, a former Justice Department official responsible for election law cases and the founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, stated that the award is only available to “registered voters in the seven swing states that could impact the outcome of the presidential election.” This strongly suggests that Musk intends to influence the election and may have legal issues.
Furthermore, the proposal was made in the final days before the registration deadline for some voters, further reinforcing Musk’s potential motive to stimulate voter registration. In addition, the America PAC can obtain more contact information of potential voters through this activity and use this information to mobilize voters to support Trump.
