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Elon Musk is under growing criticism for allegedly breaching election regulations by promising to give $1 million a day to registered voters who sign a petition.

To prove his point, Musk handed over a $1 million (R18 million) cheque to one lucky attendee at Saturday’s Republican rally in Harrisburg, followed by another when the red roadshow headed over to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The next winner will be chosen at random from those who sign a pro-US Constitution petition by Musk’s campaign group AmericaPAC, which he set up to support Republican nominee Donald Trump’s march to the White House.

Musk has wholeheartedly entered the presidential race now, having already given Trump’s campaign a whopping $75 million boost earlier.

But critics on the left reckon that the latest redistribution of wealth might not be so good for democracy. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who supports Kamala Harris, told NBC that Musk’s strategy is “deeply concerning.”

Shapiro also said that law enforcement should potentially look at the payments.

“There are real questions about how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing”.

Election law expert Rick Hasen wrote on his personal Election Law Blog that he believed that while some of the other things Musk was doing were of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal.

Federal law states that anyone who “pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting” faces a potential $10,000 (R180,000) fine or a five-year prison sentence. People who sign the petition – which pledges to support free speech and gun rights – must also submit their contact details, allowing AmericaPAC to contact them about their vote.

Campaigns and political action groups often use strategies such as petition signing and survey enquiries as a way t create enormous voter databases. That data may then be used to target voters or collect donations from existing supporters. In Pennsylvania, Mr Musk is even giving voters $100 for signing the petition, plus another $100 for each person they refer who signs. Voters in other battleground states get $47 per referral.

Despite the noise, Musk’s voter edition of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire may just slip through a loophole under US election law because no one is being directly paid to vote – despite introducing money into a process that could identify likely Trump voters.

While campaigning on Sunday, Trump was asked about Mr Musk’s giveaway but admitted “I haven’t followed that,” before adding that he speaks to Musk often and he is a “friend”.

Musk said he wants to get “over a million, maybe two million, voters in the battleground states to sign the petition in support of the First and Second Amendment.”

“I think it sends a crucial message to our elected politicians,” he added.

It sure does.

[source:bbc&fintimes]