Elon Musk Announces Million-Dollar US Voter Lottery, But Is It Legal?

Donald Trump surrogate Elon Musk’s supply of 1,000,000 {dollars} to at least one registered voter in a swing state day-after-day till the US Election Day on November 5 has raised questions concerning the legality of such a transfer.

Whereas Democratic candidate Kamala Harris’s marketing campaign has not commented on the competition, Josh Shapiro, the Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania, stated on NBC’s Meet the Press: “I believe it is one thing that legislation enforcement ought to check out.”

Musk, the world’s richest man, introduced the competition Saturday in Pennsylvania, one of many seven “swing states” that may probably decide who will grow to be the following US president — Harris, or Republican Trump. 

The competition requires entrants signal a petition “to assist free speech & the proper to bear arms,” Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk stated on X, the social media platform he owns.

The endeavor enters sizzling water with the requirement that individuals are registered to vote in swing states with the intention to take part.

Danielle Lang, a professor at Georgetown Regulation College who makes a speciality of election legislation, advised AFP the competition might be “topic to civil or legal enforcement by the Division of Justice.”

“It’s unlawful to offer out cash on the situation that recipients register as voters,” she stated.

“Because the phrases of this ‘contest’ to win $1 million require the recipient to be a registered voter in certainly one of seven swing states (or to register in the event that they haven’t already), the supply violates federal legislation,” she continued.

Grey space

Rick Hasen, a political science professor on the College of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) College of Regulation, expressed an analogous sentiment on his Election Regulation Weblog. 

He cited the precise legislation that prohibits anybody who “pays or provides to pay or accepts fee… for registration to vote,” including that the penalty entails a superb of $10,000 or as much as 5 years imprisonment.

Not everyone seems to be of the identical mindset, nevertheless. 

Brad Smith, the previous chairman of the Federal Election Fee, advised the New York Occasions what Musk is doing is “one thing of a grey space.”

Since Musk is just not paying individuals to register straight, however reasonably for signing a petition, “I believe he comes out OK right here,” Smith stated.

For his half, Musk defends his transfer by saying it’s a easy get out and vote effort.

“We need to be sure that everybody in swing states hears about this and I think this may guarantee they do,” he wrote on X.

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk has pulled out all of the stops in latest weeks to assist former president Trump, together with donating $75 million to a pro-Trump political motion committee and showing at marketing campaign rallies.

“Simply go on the market and speak to your family and friends and acquaintances and other people you meet on the street and… persuade them to vote,” he advised the group on the rally the place he introduced the petition contest.

Lang stated that schemes equivalent to these happen “every election cycle.”

“We are likely to see some companies that have interaction in some questionable exercise alongside these traces (equivalent to providing a free merchandise for displaying an ‘I Voted’ sticker) however that is notable for its far bigger measurement,” she stated.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)