Photo: Angela Weiss/AFP/Getty Images
Elon Musk is full of ideas this month. He promoted his concept of a department of government efficiency (DOGE) at Sunday’s Madison Square Garden Trump rally, debuted a MAGA hat to sell to goths, and has been making 69 jokes on his platform X. These things all may be immature for a 53-year-old billionaire, but they are not illegal — unlike, potentially, the daily voter lottery that Musk’s super-PAC announced last week. His group, America PAC, vowed to give away $1 million to lucky voters in swing states who sign a petition supporting the First and Second Amendment. The group also offers guaranteed sums of $100 to registered voters in Pennsylvania who sign the petition and another $100 for referring more PA voters to sign. Already, the PAC has cut checks to voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
If you’re wondering whether such a promotion violates federal election laws against paying off Americans to register or vote, so are law professors, some of whom have opined that the giveaway falls in a dark-gray area. Despite a letter last week from the Justice Department informing the PAC that its promo may be illegal, Musk’s group has continued to give money away.
With Democratic senators calling for a DOJ investigation into this giveaway from a major Trump donor, Philadelphia’s district attorney, Larry Krassner, has taken action, seeking an injunction from a Pennsylvania court to block the lottery and voter payoffs. “America PAC and Musk are lulling Philadelphia citizens — and others in the Commonwealth (and other swing states in the upcoming election) — to give up their personal identifying information and make a political pledge in exchange for the chance to win $1 million,” his civil lawsuit states. “That is a lottery. And it is indisputably an unlawful lottery. Under unambiguous Pennsylvania law, all lotteries in Pennsylvania must be regulated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
Musk has not yet commented on the lawsuit, but he is surely going to be upset by its source — a progressive DA whose campaign was funded by George Soros and who has been painted by conservative politicians as soft on crime. He has defended the giveaway on X, stating that “you can be from any or no political party and you don’t even have to vote” to win. That bipartisan spirit has not been extended to the PAC’s page on X, which called Kamala Harris the “c-word” in a now-deleted tweet.
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