Elon Musk's election giveaway stirs legal controversy

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla and one of the richest people on Earth, handed out the first check for one million dollars on Saturday during a campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The money went to one of the event's participants. The billionaire announced that he will distribute similar checks daily until election day on November 5th to registered voters who sign his petition concerning "constitutional rights" and the right to bear arms. This is one of Musk's strategies to ensure as many Donald Trump supporters register to vote and go to the polls.

Musk has actively urged people to vote for Donald Trump for months. On his platform X (formerly Twitter), he spreads conspiracy theories about the Democratic candidate. As the election campaign enters its final stretch, he has relocated to Pennsylvania to boost voter turnout among Trump supporters.

The petition is available to voters in seven key states to decide the presidential election's outcome. So far, every voter who signed it received $47 for their signature and for each person they encouraged to sign. The exception is Pennsylvania, considered the most important state in the presidential elections, where the amount was $100 through Monday.

Musk's involvement in the election campaign has raised significant controversies. Commentators accuse the Trump-supporting Tesla chief of trying to buy votes for his candidate. On Sunday, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, raised concerns regarding the legality of the process. In a television interview with NBC, he stated that what Musk is doing is "deeply troubling" and said the prosecutor's office should investigate the matter. Federal law prohibits offering money to voters to persuade them to vote.

Musk's petition is theoretically available to all voters, and the payment is not conditional on voting in the election.

"I signed it because I need the money, and I want to spite Musk," said Heather, a voter from Erie, Pennsylvania, who has already voted—by mail—for Kamala Harris.

She stated that she expects her data to be used by Republicans to compile voter lists for election campaigns, but she plans to block any emails and text messages sent by the Trump campaign staff.

Musk's petition is not the only controversial and legally questionable election initiative funded by him.

As reported by the media recently, committees to which Musk has donated are behind election ads targeting Muslims in Michigan and Jews in Pennsylvania. Ads targeting Muslims emphasize Harris's and her husband's (who is Jewish) pro-Israel sympathies, while those targeting Jews accuse her of being pro-Palestinian. The OpenSecrets portal also reported that Musk is behind a campaign of texts and emails to voters impersonating Harris's campaign staff and presenting false campaign promises, such as allowing children in school to change their gender without their parent's knowledge.

According to official data from the Federal Election Commission, Musk has donated $75 million to his main election committee, America PAC. However, according to "The New York Times," Trump told supporters that the billionaire's support amounts to $500 million.

Besides financial support and using the X platform to campaign for the former president, Musk has also begun appearing at rallies supporting Trump. During Saturday's rally in Harrisburg, he spread a conspiracy theory popular in MAGA circles (the community of Donald Trump's most loyal voters) that Democrats are sending illegal immigrants to key states to vote in elections. He also claims that Dominion voting machines rigged the 2020 election results, a lie that has been unequivocally debunked in recent years.