Critics say the giveway is an illegal attempt to register voters in swing states that may determine the Nov 5 election.
The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office has filed a lawsuit seeking to stop a daily $1m giveaway to supporters of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign by billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk, describing it as an ” illegal lottery.”
The lawsuit filed on Monday by District Attorney Larry Krasner comes barely a week before election day in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, which polls show could determine the outcome.
A Political Action Committee (PAC) controlled by Musk recently began offering $1m every day until November 5 to a person picked at random who agrees to sign a petition backing the constitutional right to free speech and to carry a gun.
To sign the petition, contestants must be registered to vote in one of the key swing states of Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin.
Election law experts have questioned whether the sweepstakes potentially violates a federal law barring anyone from paying a person to vote or register to vote.
“The Philadelphia District Attorney is charged with protecting the public from public nuisances and unfair trade practices, including illegal lotteries,” Krasner’s office said in a statement published on its website.
“The DA is also charged with protecting the public from interference with the integrity of elections,” the statement added.
Musk, 53 – the founder and the CEO of the electric car company Tesla and rocket producer SpaceX and owns the social media network, X – is the world’s richest man with a net worth of $274.4bn, according to the Forbes real-time billionaires list.
Trump has pledged to give Musk a role in his administration if he wins next month, and Musk has been making campaign appearances at pro-Trump rallies.
The goal of Musk’s $1m sweepstake
Musk stated that he wanted “to get over a million, maybe two million voters in the battleground states to sign the petition” when he launched the sweepstake at a Trump campaign event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on October 19.
“We are going to be awarding $1m randomly to people who have signed the petition every day from now until the election,” he said.
In Pennsylvania, each registered voter who signs the petition will automatically receive $100 as compensation, plus an additional $100 for each person they refer who also signs. In other swing states, individuals will get $47 per successful referral.
PACs raise and spend money to advocate for or against a candidate in an election. Musk says the reason he is giving away the money is to generate more awareness about the America PAC petition backing the Constitution.
Musk formed America PAC in May to support former US President Trump’s election bid this year. On October 16, it was reported that Musk had poured $75m over three months into America PAC.
Is Musk’s $1m plan legal?
The Justice Department recently sent a letter warning Musk that the lottery-style contest might be unlawful.
Making a payment to someone “for registering to vote or for voting” is a federal crime, according to a document published by the US Department of Justice in December 2017. It adds that this payment does not have to be money but can also be other valuables like liquor or lottery tickets.
In an interview with the NBC television network, Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor Shapiro said Musk’s plan was “deeply concerning” and something that law enforcement should look into.
“Musk obviously has a right to be able to express his views. He’s made it very, very clear that he supports Donald Trump. I don’t. Obviously, we have a difference of opinion,” Shapiro said on the TV show Meet the Press.
“I don’t deny him that, right, but when you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions,” he added.
Immigration questions
Meanwhile, US President Joe Biden has accused Musk of hypocrisy on immigration following a report that the Tesla CEO once worked illegally in the US.
“That wealthiest man in the world turned out to be an illegal worker here,” Biden said while campaigning on Saturday in Pittsburgh at a union hall.
“I’m serious. He was supposed to be in school when he came on a student visa. He wasn’t in school. He was violating the law. And he’s talking about all these illegals coming our way?” he added.
The South Africa-born Musk and one-time supporter of Democratic party candidates, denies the allegation. Musk obtained US citizenship in 2002.
The Washington Post reported that Musk worked illegally in the country while on a student visa. The newspaper, citing company documents, former business associates and court documents, said Musk arrived in Palo Alto, California, in 1995 for a graduate programme at Stanford University “but never enrolled in courses, working instead on his startup”.
Musk wrote on X in reply to a video post of Biden’s comments, “I was in fact allowed to work in the US.” Musk added, “The Biden puppet is lying.”