Is Elon Musk’s $1 million PAC petition giveaway illegal? Depends on who you ask

On Oct. 19, tech billionaire Elon Musk announced that he’s pledging to give away $1 million a day to voters who sign his political action committee’s petition in favor of “free speech and the right to bear arms,” or the First and Second amendments of the Constitution.

Only registered voters in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina — all critical battleground states this election cycle —  are eligible for the America PAC giveaway, according to the petition website.

After Musk’s announcement, many people on social media claimed the giveaway may actually violate federal law.

“Making a million dollar prize contingent on registering to vote is illegal,” said one post with over 2 million views.

Multiple VERIFY readers, including Becky, Diana and Mary Ann, messaged us to ask if there’s truth to the claims.

Is Elon Musk’s $1 million a day America PAC petition giveaway illegal?

• America PAC, a super political action committee founded by Elon Musk
• America PAC Petition
• U.S. Code of Laws
• U.S. Department of Justice Election Crimes Manual
• A blog post by Rick Hasen, J.D., Ph.D., professor of political science and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA School of Law
• Michael R. Dimino, Sr., J.D., professor of law at Widener University’s Commonwealth Law School 
• Brendan Fischer, J.D., a campaign finance lawyer and deputy executive director at Documented, an investigative watchdog and journalism project
• John J. Martin, J.D., research assistant professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law
• Brad Smith, J.D., a former chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC)

Some election law experts say Elon Musk’s $1 million a day America PAC petition giveaway is illegal. But others say it doesn’t violate any laws.

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It’s not clear whether Elon Musk’s America PAC petition giveaway is illegal. Some election law experts say it is a violation of federal law to link a cash handout to signing a petition that also requires a person to be registered to vote. But other experts have argued that the giveaway is legal because Musk isn’t paying people to register to vote but to sign the petition.

Rick Hasen, a political science professor at UCLA Law School, says Musk is “clearly illegal vote buying” in an Oct. 19 blog post. He says the giveaway violates 52 U.S.C. 10307(c), a federal law that prohibits paying people for registering to vote or for voting. Those who break the law face a potential $10,000 fine or up to five years in prison.

“If all he was doing was paying people to sign the petition, that might be a waste of money. But there’s nothing illegal about it,” Hasen told The Associated Press. “The problem is that the only people eligible to participate in this giveaway are the people who are registered to vote. And that makes it illegal.”

Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance lawyer, agrees.

“There would be few doubts about the legality if every Pennsylvania-based petition signer were eligible, but conditioning the payments on registration arguably violates the law,” Fischer told The Associated Press.

John J. Martin, a research assistant professor of law at the University of Virginia School of Law, said he also believes the petition is “likely illegal.”

“The petition itself does not literally say that if you register to vote, you have the chance to win $1 million. Nevertheless, to win, one must necessarily register to vote (if they are not already registered). And I believe it’s clear that Elon Musk and his PAC are advertising this prize to encourage people in swing states to register to vote (even if they were careful with their petition’s language to avoid explicitly stating this),” Martin told VERIFY.

“Of course, any prosecutor would have to prove that Elon ‘knowingly or willfully’ engaged in this quid pro quo (that is, registering to vote in exchange for a chance at winning money). I don’t think this would be too difficult to prove, though,” Martin noted.

But other election law experts, like Michael R. Dimino, Sr., a professor at Widener University’s Commonwealth Law School, believe “the program is legal.”

“Federal law prohibits payments for voting or for registering to vote, but that is not what this program does. It limits eligibility to registered voters, but applies to someone who has been a registered voter for years. Thus, a person already registered to vote in Pennsylvania does not need to take any action other than signing the petition to be eligible for a payment,” Dimino said.

“This is to say that payments are illegal only if the payments are being made in exchange for the recipient’s registration or voting. Petition signers are being paid to sign the petition, not to register or to vote. It is therefore legal,” Dimino added.

Brad Smith, a former chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC), also told the New York Times that because Musk isn’t paying people to register, but instead paying them to sign a petition — even if it’s limited only to registered voters — the tech billionaire “comes out OK here.”

On Oct. 20, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, who is also the state’s former attorney general, expressed concern about Musk’s petition giveaway on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“I think there are real questions with how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing, not just into Pennsylvania, but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians. That is deeply concerning,” Shapiro said. “When you start flowing this kind of money into politics, I think it raises serious questions that folks may want to take a look at.” 

A group of former Republican lawmakers, advisers and U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) officials sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry on Oct. 21 calling on them to investigate Musk’s petition giveaway, according to the Washington Post and USA Today. The letter argues that Musk’s petition is a disguised voter drive in which he is essentially bribing people to register.

VERIFY reached out to the DOJ and FEC and both declined to comment.

As of Oct. 22, Musk’s America PAC has so far given away $3 million to three registered voters in Pennsylvania who signed the petition. The giveaway runs until Election Day.  

The Associated Press contributed to this report.