Musk's $1M Election Lottery Raises Serious Legal Concerns, Says Pennsylvania Governor

Elon Musk's plan to give $1 million each day to a random registered "swing state" voter who has signed his election petition could merit a look for election law violations, Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro said over the weekend. 

Shapiro's comments on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday came the day after Musk's first cash prize for signing "in support of the Constitution, especially freedom of speech and the right to bear arms" was handed out at a rally in Harrisburg, PA. The winner was handed a giant check with his name in the "dollars" field and the payee field left blank, as was proudly displayed in a post by Musk's PAC, making it unclear if the novelty item will need to be voided and reissued. 

Regardless, the giveaway requires investigation - at least according to former state attorney general, and now governor, Shapiro. 

"Musk has a right to express his views," Shapiro said during the interview, adding that the level of money Musk is injecting into politics - and voters' wallets - is worth a look. Shapiro wouldn't state outright whether he thought Musk's election lottery rose to the level of an election law violation, however.

"I think it's something law enforcement could take a look at," Shapiro said while deferring to his current attorney general, Michelle Henry, as the person to act on the matter. 

"It does raise some serious questions," Shapiro said after calling Musk's giveaway "deeply concerning." 

The Register reached out to Henry's office, and the AGs for several other states Musk's America PAC lists as swing states where eligible signatories could win his election lotto.

The Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General told us its priority is "to ensure the integrity of all elections that occur in the Commonwealth. We are aware of this matter, and can neither confirm, nor deny, the existence of any investigation regarding it." We've not received responses from others we queried.

Legal eagles

Earlier this month we wrote a story about regular Musk opposers and party game makers Cards Against Humanity's campaign to motivate voters through its own super PAC. That campaign offered to pay swing-state voters who apologize for not voting in the last presidential election, pledge to vote this year and post an insult about Republican candidate Donald Trump up to $100, with the amount varying based on state and district. 

While that's not directly buying a vote, so much as buying an apology, it still treads a legal gray area only the brave, foolhardy and ultra-rich are willing to wade into, and Cards Against Humanity didn't answer questions for that story about the legality of its initiative. 

Given the nature of the news around Musk's $1 million cash prize, we went to take a look at the Cards Against Humanity site, only to find the campaign post had vanished and now redirects visitors to the website the company stood up in September to announce their lawsuit against SpaceX for damaging property the company owns near the Texas-Mexico border. There is a short message about a pack of 2024 election themed cards, made available as part of the earlier stunt, which were still around, though.

We asked Cards Against Humanity if its campaign attracted the attention of election law officials. A spokesperson told us "I can confirm that the promotion has concluded," adding "We're not offering additional comments right now."

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Given that the Cards Against Humanity campaign has disappeared, what does that mean for Musk's plan to award $1 million daily to registered voters who sign his petition? 

Election law expert and UCLA law professor Richard Hasen, writing on his Election Law Blog, claimed this weekend that while the petition might have been "of murky legality," Musk's election lottery, in his opinion, is "clearly illegal." 

Hasen wrote that there are laws on the books about it being illegal to pay or accept payment for registration to vote or for voting, but also added that the Department of Justice's rather lengthy election crimes manual [PDF] states outright that "lottery chances" are a form of bribe, and bribes are illegal if they "intended to induce or reward the voter for engaging in one or more acts necessary to cast a ballot." 

In order to sign the petition, and thus be eligible for the potential to win Musk's cash, one has to be a registered voter, which essentially serves as motivation to register to vote. The fact that only registered voters are eligible to sign Musk's petition and be in the running for his prize is "what makes it illegal," Hasen opined. 

We're assuming, of course, Musk will actually make good on his promise to pay what he's owed, which critics might argue is is not a sure thing. Failure to do so might open up another avenue for suing Musk, unless law enforcement steps in with an injunction to put a lid on the whole thing. 

In the meantime, a second $1 million prize was reportedly awarded at a rally in Pittsburgh on Sunday. It's not clear whether any money has been given to either recipient yet, but hey - at least they filled out the check correctly on the second try. ®

This story was updated at 02:20 UTC, October 22, with comments from the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General.