Elon Musk is offering $1 million a day to sign his PAC petition. Is that legal?

Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Tesla and SpaceX who has campaigned heavily on Republican Donald Trump's bid for the White House, is pledging to give voters $1 million a day for signing his political action committee's petition in support of the Constitution to donate. The offer raises questions among election experts about the legality of the plan.

Some experts believe it is a violation of the law to tie spending money to signing a petition that also requires a person to be registered as a voter. A message seeking comment was left with the PAC on Sunday, as was a request for comment from the Justice Department.

Musk, the world's richest person with a fortune of $242 billion, has already committed at least $70 million to the former president's re-election effort and is now ramping up his efforts to persuade voters in swing states to support Trump. The X owner had previously offered supporters $47 for each registered voter in seven battleground states that they could sign his petition, a nod to the fact that the winner of the Nov. 5 election will be the country's 47th president.

“Although some of the other things Musk did may have been of unclear legality, this is clearly illegal,” Rick Hasen, a political science professor at UCLA Law School, wrote on the Election Law Blog about the $1 million drawing per day.

He pointed to a law that prohibits paying people to register to vote or vote.

“The problem is that the only people eligible to participate in this lottery are those who are registered to vote. And that makes it illegal,” Hasen said in a telephone interview.

Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, the state's former attorney general, expressed concern Sunday about Musk's $1 million fundraising plan.

“I think there are real questions about how he is spending money in this race, how the dark money is flowing not only into Pennsylvania but apparently now into the pockets of Pennsylvanians. “This is deeply concerning,” he said on NBC’s “Meet.” the press.”

Elon Musk's PAC petition

Musk pledged Saturday that he would donate $1 million a day until the Nov. 5 election to people who support his PAC's petition in support of the First Amendment, which protects free speech, and the Second Amendment with his right “to “to keep and to keep” support to carry weapons.”

During an event Saturday in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he presented a check to a man named John Dreher. A message with a number for Dreher was not returned Sunday. On Sunday, Musk issued another check.

Musk's America PAC has begun a tour of Pennsylvania, a key election district. His goal is to register voters who support Trump, whom Musk supported. The PAC is also pushing to win over voters in other key states.

Trump, campaigning in Pennsylvania on Sunday, was asked about Musk's giveaway and said, “I didn't follow through on that.” Trump said he “talks to Elon a lot. He is a friend of mine” and described him as great for the country.

Legal problems with Musk's $1 million gift

Among the election law experts raising alarm about the giveaways is Brendan Fischer, a campaign finance attorney who noted that the latest version of Musk's giveaways hit a legal limit.

That's because the PAC requires registration as a condition of eligibility for the $1 million check. “There would be little doubt about the legality if every Pennsylvania resident to sign the petition were eligible, but tying payment to registration arguably violates the law,” Fischer said in an email.

Michael Kang, an election law professor at Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law, said the context of the drawing so close to Election Day makes it difficult to argue that the promotion is anything other than an incentive for people to register to vote.

“It's not quite the same as paying someone to vote, but it's so close that we're concerned about the legality of it,” Kang said.

Typically, coordination between campaigns and so-called super PACs was prohibited. But a recent opinion from the Federal Election Commissioner, who regulates federal election campaigns, allowed candidates and these groups to work together in certain cases, including enforcing election efforts.