‘Where’s My $47?’ Musk’s Petition Deal Leaves Some Voters in the Dark
The world’s richest man has promised cash payouts for swing-state voters who get other battleground voters to sign a petition organized by his pro-Trump Super PAC. But the legality of the promotion has come into question, while participants have been confused about how it works — and when they can expect payment.
Elon Musk‘s America PAC initially promised $47 per signature on a short statement: “The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. By signing below, I am pledging my support for the First and Second Amendments.” The form asks for the signatory’s name, phone number, email address, and mailing address. However, you don’t get $47 for signing the pledge yourself, and can only claim this money if you refer another registered voter who signs, listing you as their referrer. Both individuals must be registered voters in Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin for the referrer to be eligible for payment.
In early October, some signatories received hand deliveries of $47 in cash, posing for photo-ops to tout the deal. Most, though, are expecting checks in the mail, and some have grown impatient. One issue, to judge by replies to Musk’s posts on X (formerly Twitter), is that voters have misread the terms of the America PAC offer, and think that just signing the petition will earn them money. “WHERE’S MY $47? I SIGNED ALREADY,” one Donald Trump supporter replied to Musk on Sunday. “I signed up and didn’t get $47,” another X user attempted to inform Musk earlier this month, appending a skull emoji to his message. And even those who apparently understood the referral system have complained of not receiving payments. “I signed up three people but didn’t get the $47,” another person replied to Musk this week, adding, “still glad I did it but wondering if that was a scam.”
Out of 30 people contacted by Rolling Stone who said they had attempted to claim payment through the America PAC petition offer, most did not respond. Of the nine who did, none have received payments so far. Six indicated that they support neither Musk nor Trump and simply wanted to claim the cash. “Don’t believe in any of the petition stuff, just looking to scam Elon out of $47,” says one Pennsylvania voter. Musk has personally poured around $119 million into America PAC.
“Signed my parents and wife up, with their permission. We all live in Wisconsin,” says another signatory, who explains that these family members are not voting for Trump. “Not holding my breath,” they say regarding the theoretical payout from Musk’s organization. This voter did receive an email confirmation from America PAC that the group had logged them as a referrer. “A check will be mailed out to you at your registered voting address — checks start going out right now!” states the message, which was shared with Rolling Stone. The Pennsylvania voter who wants to “scam Elon” also received this form email, 16 days after their referral had been submitted.
Similarly, a North Carolina voter tells Rolling Stone that she signed the petition on Oct. 7 and referred her husband, later receiving an email from America PAC saying that she “earned the $47 for the referral.” She has not yet received the money.
As the fine print on the Super PAC’s petition deal notes: “Before payment is made, America PAC will verify the accuracy of all information of the referrer and referee.” It’s not clear how the group is verifying the information supplied by voters, nor whether it is using the data as part of its get-out-the-vote efforts in the closing days of the election cycle. (The Trump campaign has largely outsourced its ground game to Musk’s Super PAC, to the concern of allies warning that the group isn’t up to the task.) A spokesperson for America PAC did not return a request for comment on the processing of subsequent payments.
A Trump voter in Pennsylvania tells Rolling Stone that he had his girlfriend sign the petition and list him as a referrer. “If it were anyone other than Elon Musk doing this I wouldn’t trust it,” he says. But he is frustrated at receiving no confirmation message or further communication from the Super PAC since then. “Part of me thinks it’s B.S. just to rally up votes,” he admits, in which case he plans to “have a field day slandering [Musk], and Trump might just lose my vote.”
Another Pennsylvania voter and registered Republican, who says she referred three people to sign the petition “a couple weeks ago,” tweeted at Musk on Sunday, asking “I didn’t get the $47 yet, how does this work?” In comments to Rolling Stone, she clarifies that she’s “not angry” and just wanted clarification on how payments were being processed. “My mail is always behind anyways,” she adds.
Seen as a must-win tipping point state by both campaigns, Pennsylvania has been Musk’s personal focus of late. Besides jumping for joy alongside Trump at a rally held in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the candidate was grazed by a bullet in an assassination attempt in July, Musk has been speaking at town hall events around the state. Seeking to galvanize this part of the electorate, he has even raised the petition payouts for them alone, announcing that from Oct. 17 forward, registered Pennsylvania voters would receive $100 just for signing, and another $100 for each referral of another registered voter in the state.
America PAC soon went further still, offering a daily $1 million raffle prize until Election Day, with any swing-state voter who signed the petition eligible to win. The first three winners hailed from Pennsylvania — all Republicans who had already voted — while the fourth to pick up a giant novelty check was a resident of North Carolina.
But the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section has issued Musk a letter warning that the sweepstakes may violate federal law, and America PAC did not issue a $1 million prize on Wednesday. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) had previously called for an investigation of America PAC’s payments to registered voters, and the DOJ confirmed on Tuesday that it had received a request from former federal prosecutors and Republican officials to investigate the payments to swing-state voters “that experts say raise serious questions under applicable law.”
Then, on Thursday, America PAC announced two $1 million winners, in Michigan and Wisconsin. In posts on X — though not on its website — the organization states that each winning voter is selected to “earn” the money as a “spokesperson” for the group.
It remains to be seen whether Musk’s extreme efforts to send Trump back to the White House, virtually unprecedented for a campaign mega-donor, will have the desired effect. If so, his investment in the MAGA movement could be well worth it: Besides benefiting from any further Trump tax cuts, Musk stands to gain a top government post under a Republican administration — and with it, another special tax break that may be worth billions.
In that context, $47 payouts are a pittance. But the logistics of distributing those checks before Election Day are, apparently, a bit more than Musk and his Super PAC bargained for.
Update Oct. 25, 3:28pm ET: This story has been updated to reflect Musk’s total donations to America PAC and the continuation of its $1 million giveaways.
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