Sign a petition to try to win a million dollars every day until the US election on November 5. Who other than Elon Musk to launch such an extravagant initiative? Concretely, the fantastic billionaire announced that he would donate this sum daily – and “randomly” – to a registered voter in one of the seven key states of the United States. The condition for participating in the draw? Sign a conservative petition in favor of freedom of expression and the right to bear arms.
“We want to make sure that all the key states hear about (the petition) and I think (this lottery) will ensure that”explained Elon Musk, completely committed to supporting Donald Trump for several weeks.
Shannon from McKees Rocks, PA was today’s recipient of $1M for signing our petition to support the Constitution
Every day until Election Day, a person who signs the petition will be selected to earn $1M as a spokesperson for America PAC pic.twitter.com/UwwmoRwUv8
— America (@america) October 21, 2024
This lottery did not directly provoke a reaction from Kamala Harris. On the other hand, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, where the first distribution took place on Saturday, judged it “very worrying”. “This is something the authorities should look into” and which raises “serious questions”he estimated on Sunday.
Other awards ceremonies took place subsequently in this state in the northeastern United States. It is one of the famous “swing states” where the vote is generally played out, because they bring more voters to the winner than others. The candidate who is defeated there practically loses all chance of being elected nationally. In addition to Pennsylvania, this year it includes Nevada, Arizona, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia.
Elon Musk, Donald Trump’s X factor?
Legality in question
The governor of Pennsylvania is not the only one to question the legality of this initiative. For electoral law expert Danielle Lang, Elon Musk’s offer is problematic. She would even be “contrary to federal laws” car “the conditions of this “competition” require that the beneficiary be registered on the electoral lists of one of the seven “swing states”, or that they register if they have not already done so”she explained to AFP. This professor at Georgetown University thus assures that the lottery could “the subject of civil or criminal proceedings by the Ministry of Justice”.
An argument also developed by Rick Hasen, professor at the law faculty of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). The latter recalls in his blog that federal law stipulates that any person who “pays, offers to pay or accepts payment to register to vote or to vote is punishable by a fine of $10,000 or five years of imprisonment.”
But for Brad Smith, former president of the Federal Election Commission, we find ourselves rather in a « zone grise »flirting with legality without crossing the red line. According to him, Musk « see black » since he does not pay people directly to register, but to sign a petition, he explained to New York Times.
The fact remains that, across the Atlantic, crazy initiatives are legion during the presidential campaign, according to Danielle Lang.
“Every election cycle, we tend to see companies engaging in questionable activities like this, like offering a free product to those who show an ‘I Voted’ sticker. But this case is remarkable for its much greater magnitude. she emphasizes.
Fervent supporter of Trump
This lottery is just one example of Elon Musk’s involvement in Donald Trump’s campaign. The billionaire is one of his financiers. Since July, he has accumulated some $75 million in donations for his campaign. For him, the values defended by the former American president are not “right-wing values, as we often say”, but the “fundamental values” of America, he said last week. “And anyone who opposes these values is fundamentally un-American”he asserted.
75 million dollars: the astronomical sum donated by Musk in favor of Trump
In addition to the financial aspect, Elon Musk is literally giving of himself in this campaign. At the beginning of October, he took the stage with Donald Trump during a meeting. And for several days, he himself has been organizing public meetings in Pennsylvania to rally voters.
The extravagant boss of the social network X – in addition to Tesla and Space X – also carries out his actions online. Unsurprisingly on his platform where his personal account is followed by more than 200 million people. He publishes and reshares dozens of messages every day, often around the presidential election. Unfortunately giving an echo to controversial content, even disinformation, close to ideas defended by the Republican candidate.
(With AFP)
