Elon Musk’s may raise eyebrows, with questions about its legality and effectiveness, but experts say it’s not as clear-cut as it seems.
Musk gave $1 million ($1.4 million) checks to two attendees of his America PAC event this weekend in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in an effort to rally supporters behind Trump.
The co-founder of Tesla and SpaceX said he will give $1 million every day to registered voters in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin who sign an online petition in support of the first and second elections. changes to the United States Constitution.
These amendments protect the rights of American citizens to freedom of speech and to legally bear arms.
Elon Musk gave a $1 million check to a rally attendee who signed a petition in support of the First and Second Amendments in the US Constitution. Credit: X/@theamericapac
It is a federal crime to pay people with the intent to induce or reward them to vote or register, a crime punishable by prison time. The ban covers not only monetary expenditures but also anything of monetary value, such as liquor or lottery odds, according to a U.S. Department of Justice handbook on election crimes.
Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro said Musk’s plan to give money to registered voters in the state was “very concerning” and “something law enforcement could look into.”
Is Elon Musk’s petition lottery legal?
The legality will likely come under scrutiny in the coming days, but one law professor believes this is not the case.
Richard L. Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a blog post: “While some of the other things Musk did may have been of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal.”
Hasen cited a section of the United States Code that states that anyone who knowingly “pays or offers to pay or accepts any payment for registration to vote or to vote shall be fined not more than US$10,000 ($14,924) or a imprisonment for a maximum of five years. “.
Musk’s petition reads: “Our goal is to get 1 million registered voters in swing states to sign in support of the Constitution, specifically freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.”
The petition also encourages registered Pennsylvania voters who sign the petition to refer to “a petition signer” and receive US$100 ($149).
While the text of the petition is not as clear as the outright claim that people will be compensated if they specifically register to vote, Hasen believes this is a violation of the United States Code.
“If an offer or payment violates section 10307(c), it must be intended to induce or reward the voter for performing one or more acts necessary to cast a vote,” he said .
Australian National University marketing lecturer Andrew Hughes said Musk’s announcement was a form of “smart marketing”.
While it could be considered illegal, Musk will argue the case differently and argue for plausible deniability, Hughes said.
“It is absolutely an incentive to bring people to these meetings who are involved in supporting his petition, but he will argue that it is not an incentive to vote at all,” Hughes told SBS News.
“It’s an incentive to encourage people to take up his issue, and that’s the dark side of American politics.”
Why turnout is crucial for these elections
Hughes said voter turnout will be the crucial factor for November’s presidential election, as in previous years.
That’s why Musk has focused on voter registration in this latest campaign, and why Democrats brought out celebrities like Lizzo and Usher this weekend, he said.
‘It’s clear, him [Musk] I can’t financially get them to vote for a certain side,” Hughes said.
“But what he’s really after is registration to vote, because that’s more important in America because of turnout.”
How effective will the petition lottery be?
Getting people to register is one thing, but will it actually translate into voting on Election Day?
There’s no guarantee of that – and it’s entirely possible that people will change their minds.
“You could just register the vote knowing you could win a million dollars now, but you have absolutely no intention of voting,” Hughes said.
“It just increases the probability that you could, and that probability could ultimately translate into enough votes to claim a swing state, meaning your person being declared president.”
Timothy J. Lynch, professor of American politics at the University of Melbourne, said such campaign tactics are part of the theater of American politics that rules on both sides.
“I think Elon Musk is more in that tradition (of politics as entertainment) than he is cynical with wealth, trying to buy votes,” Lynch said.
“I think Musk understands the circus atmosphere of the Trump campaign, and Democrats are shocked by it, and this partly explains why they have been so bad at countering Trump.”
Lynch said that while Musk “adds a bit of color” to the US election campaign, the outcome should ultimately come down to governance factors.
“I think it’s much more an assessment by voters of their tenure than the way they ran a campaign.
“The campaigns may have a marginal effect, but mostly it depends on how they package their governance record.”
Additional reporting by Reuters
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