Katie Mather
·Reporter
Updated Mon, October 28, 2024
Elon Musk at a town hall in support of former president Donald Trump in Folsom, Pa., on Oct. 17. (Matt Rourke/AP)
The Philadelphia District Attorney's office has filed a civil lawsuit against Elon Musk and his pro-Trump America PAC, one week after Musk announced plans to give $1 million once a day to a random registered Pennsylvania voter who signs the group's petition.
“America PAC and Musk must be stopped, immediately, before the upcoming Presidential Election on Nov. 5,” Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner wrote in a statement released Monday. “That is because America PAC and Musk hatched their illegal lottery scheme to influence voters in that election.”
The lawsuit comes days after CNN reported that the U.S. Justice Department warned Musk that his $1 million giveaway could violate federal law against paying people to register to vote. One day after the DOJ issued its warning, Musk's PAC awarded $1 million to registered voters in Michigan and Wisconsin.
Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX founder, announced the prize money at an America PAC event in Harrisburg, Pa. last weekend. He said the money would be awarded every day “from now until the election” on Nov. 5. Musk even handed a giant check to a petition signer at the event.
Musk is the wealthiest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $242 billion. As of Oct. 16, he had already spent at least $75 million to help reelect Trump. Earlier this month, Musk offered supporters $47 for each registered voter they recruited in seven battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — to sign his petition.
Trump, who was campaigning in Pennsylvania on Sunday, was asked about Musk’s $1 million giveaway and said, “I haven’t followed that,” the Associated Press reported.
While Musk and his PAC have not publicly commented on the debate, Musk’s allies have argued that since Musk is not paying for voter registration, but for a petition signature, then it’s not illegal, according to the New York Times. But some legal experts suggest that Musk’s latest stunt is pushing the boundaries of election law.
What exactly is a PAC?
As defined by the Federal Election Commission, PACs are tax-exempt committees that may receive unlimited finance contributions that go toward financing political activity, like campaigns. Super-PACs can also accept money from corporations and other entities that are usually barred from donating directly to candidates.
America PAC is categorized as a super-PAC, which means it can also get donations from other PACs.
What is Elon Musk doing with his PAC?
Musk’s PAC aims to get signatures on a petition supporting the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects freedom of speech, and the Second Amendment, which guarantees the right to keep and bear arms.
America PAC’s website also mentions supporting the “values” of secure borders, sensible spending, safe cities and a fair justice system. The supporting evidence for why each value is a priority is links to X posts — including some from Musk himself.
“One of the challenges we’re having is how do we get people to know about this petition,” Musk said at the town hall on Oct. 19. “The legacy media won't report on it; not everyone’s on X. So, I figure, how do we get people to know about it? This news, I think, is really gonna fly.”
In a post on X, which Musk owns, he wrote, “The goal of the $1M/day prize is to maximize awareness of our petition to support The Constitution.”
As of Oct. 21, two people from Pennsylvania have won $1 million from the America PAC, according to the petition site. The America PAC filed its first mandatory contribution financial report in early October, The Hill reported, and is expected to file its second on Oct. 24.
Is this legal?
Musk has not commented publicly on the debate over whether his PAC’s incentive campaign is legal or not. During an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called Musk’s efforts “deeply concerning” and “something that law enforcement could take a look at.” Musk simply responded with, “Concerning that he would say such a thing.”
A source familiar with the PAC’s effort told The Hill that they believe the PAC is in “full compliance with the law.”
Initially, Musk’s $47-per-referral proposal was within legal bounds because it’s not illegal to pay voters to sign a petition or to pay people persuading others to sign, campaign finance lawyer Brendan Fischer told the New York Times. But this new version, which requires eligible winners to be registered to vote, comes “much closer to the legal line,” Fischer said in a second interview.
“There would be few doubts about the legality if every Pennsylvania-based petition signer were eligible, but conditioning payments on registration arguably violates the law,” Fischer said.
“Though maybe some of the other things Musk was doing were of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal,” Rick Hasen, a professor of political science at UCLA School of Law, said in a blog post.
Hasen refers to subsections in Title 52 of the United States Code, an official list of federal statutes, published by the U.S. House of Representatives Office. He emphasizes a section that reads, “Whoever knowingly or willfully … pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both…”
In his blog post, Hasen also points out that the Department of Justice Election Crimes Manual states that it’s a violation to “bribe” with “anything having monetary value, including cash, liquor [and] lottery chances” — anything to “induce” people to vote. Any monetary benefits that violate the law “must have been intended to induce or reward the voter for engaging in one or more acts necessary to cast a ballot.”
Musk isn’t directly paying these residents to vote, but because the PAC’s prerequisite for winners is to be registered voters within specific states, and it’s happening so close to Election Day, it’s hard to argue that this isn’t financially incentivizing people to register to vote, Michael Kang, an election law professor at Northwestern’s School of Law, told CBS News.
In a social media post on Sunday night, America PAC reworked the language of the giveaway to state the winners would be an official “spokesperson” affiliated with the PAC. It's not clear whether the Justice Department's letter to the PAC was responsible for the change.
In terms of whether there can be this level of coordination between campaigns and super-PACs, that was illegal up until recently. Super-PACs, which were created in 2011, were required under campaign finance laws to operate independently from the candidates and their campaigns. However, in August, the FEC got rid of its anti-corruption law that prevents super PACs from coordinating with the political candidates they support.
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