Elon Musk's $1 million election giveaway tests limits of election law
election law, and legal experts are divided about whether the billionaire supporter of Donald Trump could be running afoul of prohibitions on paying people to register to vote. The Tesla CEO is promising to give $1 million each day to a randomly selected person who signs his online petition pledging to support the First and Second amendments of the U.S. Constitution, which protect the rights to free speech and gun ownership. The petition is only open to signatories who are registered voters in seven swing states likely to decide the presidential election.
«There is certainly an argument that this falls within the scope of a federal prohibition on paying a person to vote or register to vote,» said Daniel Weiner of the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice. «This is part of a pattern of him skating up to the edge of election laws that we've seen in the past several weeks.»
Musk's representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Four legal experts were divided on whether the giveaway violates federal laws that make it a crime to pay or offer to pay a person to register to vote.
Brad Smith, a Capital University Law School professor and former Federal Election Commission chairman, said Musk is likely in the clear because signing the petition is sufficiently far removed from registering to vote.
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