Philadelphia’s Democrat District Attorney has launched a lawsuit in an attempt to block X owner Elon Musk‘s $1 million daily giveaway to swing state voters.
Larry Krasner sued to halt the move, which would impact battleground states including Pennsylvania, calling it an ‘illegal lottery scheme’ which violates consumer protection laws, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The Tesla CEO is giving away a large cash sum to a random registered voter from seven swing states who have signed his America PAC petition in support of the First and Second Amendment every day until November 5.
Two residents in Pennsylvania, a swing state that could help decide the upcoming election, were the first recipients over the weekend. While Musk’s lottery is open to all residents of swing states, entrants must back pledges that more closely align with the GOP electoral campaign.
Election law experts have voiced concern about the legality of Musk’s giveaway, but Krasner’s lawsuit is the first legal action challenging the controversial sweepstakes.
Philadelphia’s Democrat District Attorney has launched a lawsuit in an attempt to block X owner Elon Musk ‘s $1 million swing state giveaway
Kristine Fishell is one of the winners of Elon Musk’s daily $1million giveaway. An election law expert has now joined a cacophony of voices describing the move unethical or even potentially illegal
The Tesla CEO and world’s richest man recently announced that everyday until the presidential election, on November 5, he would giveaway a large cash sum to a random registered voter from seven swing states who have signed his America PAC petition in support of the first and second amendment
‘America PAC and Musk must be stopped, immediately, before the upcoming Presidential Election on Nov. 5,’ Krasner’s lawsuit reads.
‘That is because America PAC and Musk hatched their illegal lottery scheme to influence voters in that election.’
It comes a week after the US Justice Department also warned Musk that the giveaway violates federal laws banning inducements to voters.
Musk’s America PAC has committed nearly $75 million aiming to get Trump re-elected.
Derek Muller, who teaches at Notre Dame Law School, explained why Musk’s giveaways could be illegal.
‘When you start limiting prizes or giveaways to only registered voters or only people who have voted, that’s where bribery concerns arise,’ he told CNN.
Mr Muller warned that by limiting the giveaway to only registered voters it appears as though Musk is handing out cash for voter registration.
The CNN contributor added that offering free money to already registered voters before the prize draw was announced would violate federal law.
However he described the offer to people not yet registered was ‘far more problematic’ because it could be seen as a potential persuasion to register.
Muller said that most states only criminalize paying people to vote and that it was rare for prosecutors to pursue cases of election bribery especially since the Supreme Court continued to narrow its scope of bribery statutes.
Former the Justice Department official handling voting rights cases David Becker has criticized Musk’s giveaway further by claiming it is ‘strong evidence’ the billionaire is trying to influence the race by only offering the incentive in seven swing states.
He said: ‘This isn’t a particularly close case this is exactly what the statute was designed to criminalize.’
This is a breaking news story with updates to follow.
