Elon Musk announces $1 million a day prize for signing petition

Billionaire and Twitter/X owner Elon Musk is being accused of “desperation” and “election interference” online, after he announced his America political action committee (PAC) will be handing out a million dollars every day to someone in a swing state who signs an online petition.

Musk’s America is a super PAC, which the Federal Election Commission (FEC) defines as “independent expenditure only political committees” which can receive “unlimited contributions” and use them to fund “independent political activity”.

The super PAC’s official website says it was created to support the “key values” of secure borders, “sensible spending”, safe cities, free speech, a fair justice system and self-protection.

However, Musk himself has been vocal in support for a particular candidate: Donald Trump.

He spoke at the Republican’s rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month, interviewed the former president on X back in August, and expressed his desire to lead work on “government efficiency” under a second Trump administration.

Addressing an audience in Pennsylvania on Saturday, Musk said: “We’re going to be awarding a million dollars, randomly, to people who have signed a petition, every day, from now until the election.

“One of the challenges we’re having is, well, how do we get people to know about this petition? Because the legacy media is going to report on it – not everyone is on X.

“This news, I think, is going to really fly.”

The petition in question states that by signing it, the individual is “pledging my support for the First and Second Amendments” – that’s the right to freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.

It adds: "Our goal is to get 1 million registered voters in swing states to sign in support of the Constitution, especially freedom of speech and the right to bear arms. This program is exclusively open to registered voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina."

In addition to the daily competition, the America PAC is also awarding $47 to every individual who manages to get a registered voter to sign the petition.

During the event this weekend, Musk brought up a man named John Dreher who won the first prize.

The scheme has led to many online raising alarm bells, though:

While some have gone as far as to call Musk’s activities “illegal”, experts in election law have expressed different opinions to the Wall Street Journal, with legal scholar Richard Hasen saying Musk “may well have crossed the line” and that it could be construed as illegal inducements depending on the “intent” behind the Tesla founder’s scheme.

He later published a blog post in which he claimed Musk “veers into clearly illegal vote buying”.

Former FEC chairman Bradley Smith, however, said the offer – which, as a reminder, concerns the signing of a petition rather than voting - is too indirect to be a problem, adding his inclination “would be to say he’s not paying them to register to vote”.

“It’s too attenuated. Most of the benefits are going to people already registered to vote,” he said.

A document published by the US Department of Justice cites legislation which prohibits votes procured or induced through bribery, and reads: “The bribe may be anything having monetary value, including cash, liquor, lottery chances, and welfare benefits such as food stamps.

“For an offer or a payment to violate [the law], it must have been intended to induce or reward the voter for engaging in one or more acts necessary to cast a ballot,” it adds.

indy100 has approached America PAC for comment.

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