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- Reporters Tom Bennett & Kyla Epstein
- Reporter, BBC News
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2 hours ago
American tech billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, announced that he would give $1 million (approximately 1.4 billion won) to one registered voter in Pennsylvania, a major battleground state, every day until the U.S. presidential election scheduled for November.
One winner will be selected at random every day from among those who signed a petition in support of the Constitutional Amendment led by AmericaPAC, a campaign group founded by Musk to elect Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
This kind of lottery-type check was handed out for the first time at a town hall event held on the night of the 19th (local time), and the winner looked surprised.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who supports presidential candidate Kamala Harris, said he was “very concerned” about Musk’s proposal.
In an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Governor Shapiro said there was a need for law enforcement to investigate the giveaway.
Voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina, which are key battleground states that will determine the outcome of this presidential election, can participate in the event.
Rick Hansen, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Law School and a renowned election law expert, wrote on his blog ‘Personal Election Law’ that he views Musk’s proposal as “obviously illegal.”
Under federal law, anyone who “pays, offers, or accepts anything to register to vote or vote” can be subject to a fine of $10,000 or up to five years in prison.
Although Musk is currently asking Pennsylvania voters to sign a petition, Professor Hansen questioned the intent of this strategy.
“What are the qualifications for signing a petition? “Only registered voters in swing states can sign, which is illegal,” he said.
Those who sign the petition, which calls for freedom of expression and the right to bear arms, are asked to provide their contact information so that AmericaPAC can contact them.
The BBC asked CEO Musk and America PAC for their opinions on this.
Typically, campaigns and political action groups use tactics such as signing petitions, requesting surveys, and purchasing products to build massive databases of voter information. This data can be used to increase the accuracy of voter targeting or to raise funds from already engaged supporters.
In Pennsylvania, Musk promised voters $100 if they signed a petition and an additional $100 if they recommended someone else sign the petition. In other competitive states, each recommender receives $47 (about 65,000 won).
This may be taking advantage of a loophole in U.S. election law. That’s because, although money went into the process of identifying potential Trump voters, strictly speaking, no one was directly paid to vote.
In the United States, it is illegal to give money to support a specific candidate, as well as simply to encourage voting.
Accordingly, during the 2008 presidential election, the famous ice cream manufacturer ‘Ben & Jerry’s’ originally tried to give out free products only to those who had a ‘I voted’ sticker on election day, but in the end it had to be distributed to everyone.
Meanwhile, when Trump, who went on the campaign trail on the 20th, was asked about Musk’s giveaway event, he said, “I don’t know the details,” adding that he talks frequently with Musk and that they are “friends.”
CEO Musk, the founder of ‘SpaceX’ and ‘Tesla’ and also the owner of X (formerly ‘Twitter’), has emerged as a key supporter of candidate Trump.
Last July, America PAC was established to support Trump’s election campaign, and the organization, to which Musk has donated $75 million (approximately 102.8 billion won) to date, has rapidly emerged as the core of Trump’s presidential campaign.
Trump’s team relies heavily on external groups such as AmericaPAC to gain support from voters.
A statement posted on AmericaPAC’s website reads, “We were founded to support core values: secure borders, safe cities, reasonable spending, a fair judicial system, freedom of expression, and the right to self-protection.”
Musk said, “I hope that 1 million or more than 2 million voters in swing states will sign the petition in support of the 1st Amendment (freedom of speech) and 2nd Amendment (right to keep and bear arms).” “I think this can send an important message to America’s elected politicians,” he added.
Meanwhile, according to the American economic magazine ‘Forbes’, Musk is currently the richest person in the world, with an estimated net worth of $248 billion (about 339 trillion won).
