Billionaire Elon Musk has handed out his first $1 million check after promising to award that amount each day until November’s election to a single registered swing-state voter who signs his online petition.
The petition pledges support for the free speech First Amendment of the Constitution, and the right to bear arms Second Amendment. Signers supply contact information so they can be mobilized to vote and encourage others to come out for Donald Trump.
The Tesla CEO’s lottery-style award is funded through his political action committee, America PAC, which supports Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign and is helping mobilize and register voters in battleground states.
Musk presented the check to John Dreher, who attended the tech mogul’s town hall event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, Reuters reported.
“By the way, John had no idea,” Musk told tthe crowd of supporters for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. “So, anyway, you’re welcome,” he said to Dreher as he handed him the check.
Musk’s unprecedented giveaway is the latest example of using his wealth to influence the presidential race between Trump and Democratic rival Vice President Kamala Harris. He admitted earlier this year that for the wealthy to be heavily involved is to put a “thumb” on the voting scale.
Earlier this month Musk offered people $47 if they successfully convinced one registered voter from a swing state to sign his petition. He later upped it to $100 for registered Pennsylvania voters.
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The super pac is targeting two types of voters: Supporters who don’t typically vote but support Trump, and the ones who do vote but may be undecided about who they’ll pick election day. Musk is aiming to get as many as two million voters in swing-states to sign the petition.
While it’s against the law to pay someone to vote or accept payment for voter registration or voting, it’s legal to compensate them for signing petitions.
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Musk is the sole donor to the America PAC, and has already given $75 million in the last three months, according to the Federal Election Commission. Musk has said he has also mobilized some 400 canvassers in each state to knock on doors in an effort to convince them to vote, the Guardian reported.
Questions have been raised, however, about the success and accuracy of America PAC’s canvassing results.
Some 25 percent of the reported results in the pivotal battleground states of Nevada and Arizona were identified as having “unusual survey logs” by canvassing app Campaign Sidekick, according to the Guardian. Blitz Canvassing also reported unusual activity in Arizona with 8,511 of the 35,692 reported results. Both apps used GPS data to determine the discrepancies.
Musk’s PAC has denied any problems in either state.
Trump has vowed to appoint Musk the head a government efficiency commission if he’s elected president.
