‘Illegal Lottery’: Pennsylvania Sues Musk Over $1 Million Voter Giveaways
From the outset, experts doubted the legality of Elon Musk‘s pro-Trump America PAC giving $1 million prizes to a handful of registered voters in swing states who signed a petition in support of the First and Second Amendments. Now the billionaire and his political organization face a lawsuit from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania over this unprecedented effort to influence a presidential election.
The complaint, filed on behalf of the state by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, does not accuse Musk or the Super PAC — to which he has given at least $119 million of his personal wealth — of election interference or voter fraud. Instead, it describes the sweepstakes as an “illegal lottery” that must be stopped “immediately” to protect consumers. “To be clear, this is not a case about whether Defendants have violated state or federal laws prohibiting vote-buying,” it reads.
Reached for comment on the matter, a representative for America PAC responded with a link to an X post announcing Monday’s winner, a Michigan voter.
https://twitter.com/america/status/1850902543905202551
The terms of the America PAC giveaway explain that registered voters in battleground states — including Pennsylvania, viewed as a tipping point state by both the Harris and Trump campaigns — can sign its petition “in favor of free speech and the right to bear arms” for a chance to win $1 million in daily drawings held until Election Day. (They must also supply their full names, email address, mailing address, and phone number.) Winners began receiving their giant novelty checks on Oct. 19, and the first three were residents of Pennsylvania; a fourth Pennsylvania winner accepted her check on Saturday. According to America PAC tweets dating from Oct. 20 onward, those chosen to receive the cash prize “earn” it by becoming a “spokesperson” for the organization, though the word “spokesperson” does not appear on the web page for the petition.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shaprio quickly called for an investigation into the contest, while the Department of Justice sent Musk a letter informing him that the arrangement could be illegal and that former federal prosecutors had requested a review of America PAC payments to voters. President Joe Biden on Monday called it “totally inappropriate” for Musk to be paying voters.
Apart from the shot at $1 million, the Super PAC has offered $47 to registered swing state voters who refer others to sign the petition, as well as $100 to registered Pennsylvania voters who sign, plus another $100 for each voter in the state they sign up. Some participants have complained of slow payments, unclear instructions, and a lack of communication from the Super PAC about the process for confirming their referrals.
Krasner’s lawsuit alleges that Musk’s political operation has used “deceptive, vague or misleading statements that create a likelihood of confusion or misunderstanding.” The group has not “published a complete set of lottery rules or shown how they are protecting the privacy of participants’ personal information,” the suit claims. Furthermore, Krasner argues in the complaint that America PAC’s assurance that winners are selected “randomly” may not hold water, writing that this description “appears false because multiple winners that have been selected are individuals who have shown up at Trump rallies in Pennsylvania.” The petition deal of course made a direct appeal to such likely and potential Trump voters, but registered Democrats not voting for Trump have also signed because of the cash incentives, and there is no indication that any have won the jackpot so far.
Krasner’s primary allegation is even more basic: Musk is running a lottery without proper and legally mandated oversight from the Commonwealth. The suit explains that Pennsylvania citizens are being “lulled” to “give up their personal identifying information and make a political pledge in exchange for the chance to win $1 million.”
“That is a lottery,” Krasner writes, and “unambiguous Pennsylvania law” stipulates that lotteries are subject to state regulations around the claiming of prizes, disclosure of winning odds, and use of lottery funds. America PAC, Krasner claims, is not in compliance, and he notes that the Pennsylvania General Assembly has declared illegal lotteries operating outside those rules as a public “nuisance.”
The DA’s own statement on the legal action observes that he is “charged with protecting the public from interference with the integrity of elections,” while the suit warns that the sweepstakes threatens to “tarnish the public’s right to a free and fair election.” It may have been easier to focus on the straightforward claims about the lottery element than allege violations of election or voting laws, though a spokesperson from Krasner’s office declined to comment on this point.
Trump’s team has leaned heavily on Musk in the closing months of the election cycle. The world’s richest man, who had already turned the platform X (previously Twitter) into a hotbed of MAGA misinformation, has been speaking alongside Trump at rallies — including Sunday’s hate-fest in New York’s Madison Square Garden — as well at his own town hall events around Pennsylvania. His effectiveness as a campaign surrogate is in some doubt: between Musk’s awkward physicality, stilted repetition of troubling lines intended to be jokes, and pronouncements of doom, including “hardship” for Americans should Trump win, it’s obvious that selling the candidate is harder than hyping “self-driving” Teslas.
Most worrying for Trump and his allies, however, is that America PAC has taken over much of the get-out-the-vote strategy in key states — and may be falling down on the job. Insiders have told Rolling Stone they see little evidence of a robust ground game and have brought their concerns to Trump. Led by veterans of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis‘ disastrous presidential bid, the Super PAC has run into numerous problems in its field operation, including last-minute canvasser hiring and vendor-swapping, and the use of a smartphone app that doesn’t work in rural areas with sluggish internet, where the group is targeting low-propensity voters.
Despite all this, Musk has voiced confidence in Trump and the hugely expensive war he has waged to return the former president to the White House, maintaining that Nov. 5 is do-or-die for the MAGA movement. As the mega-donor put it in a recent interview with Tucker Carlson: “If he loses, I’m fucked.”
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