Elon Musk giving $1 million a day to swing state voters

HARRISBURG: Elon Musk gave away the second check of $1 million to a registered voter in Pennsylvania on Sunday, adding on to his recent efforts in garnering support for Donald Trump.

Musk will give away $1 million to a random registered voter who has signed the petition made by America PAC, pledging support for gun and free speech rights, every day until November 5th, the day of the election. America PAC is Musk’s pro-Donald Trump campaign group.

The tactic is Musk’s latest attempt to garner support for Trump in key swing states such as Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina. Two cheques have already been handed out in Pennsylvania on Saturday and Sunday.

LEGAL CONFUSION

Title 52 of the United States Code, Section 10307, which deals with Prohibited acts in regards to voting, states in subsection B, that no person shall “intimidate, threaten, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce any person for urging or aiding any person to vote or attempt to vote.”

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Additionally, Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 597, which deals with expenditures to influence voting, states that “Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate,” as well as whoever accepts or receives any such expenditure, “Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was wilful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

The fact that Musk is acting voters to sign a former, muddles the situation, making it unclear whether his actions are illegal based on the previous provisions. However, University of California, Los Angeles law school professor, Rick Hasen, expressed his opinion, saying that the offer was “clearly illegal” due to the fact that only registered voters in swing states can sign the petition.

AMERICA PAC

Previously, Musk promised to give each signee of the aforementioned petition $100. He has also given over $75 million to his pro-Trump PAC, money used in part to fund advertisements targeted at Muslim and Jewish citizens in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

The advertisements targeted at Muslims claim that US Vice President Kamala Harris is supporting Israel, while those targeted at Jewish citizens claim that Harris is supporting Palestine.

Harris supports Palestine and Israel?: Musk funded propaganda