Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro said Sunday that billionaire Elon Musk’s effort to give money to registered voters for signing his America PAC’s petition in support of “free speech and the right to bear arms” is deeply concerning and warrants investigation by law enforcement. Musk, who has lately become an outspoken and vigorous advocate on the stump for former president Donald Trump, announced Saturday evening during a Town Hall in Harrisburg, PA, that he will be randomly awarding $1 million every day until Election Day on November 5 to registered Pennsylvania voters who sign the petition. He personally awarded his first million-dollar check to an attendee at the Harrisburg rally.
Musk has become a self-proclaimed free speech absolutist, declaring after his purchase of Twitter: “Free speech is the bedrock of democracy.”
His petition has become controversial since Musk began to offer financial incentives for registered voters to sign it. Pennsylvania voters have previously been offered $100 for signing the petition and $100 for referrals. Voters in other swing states, including Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina, are being offered $47 per referral. The program expires October 21. Musk attempted to rationalize the $1 million award and incentives at his Harrisburg Town Hall:
One of the challenges we’re having is like well how do we get people to know about this petition because the legacy media is warned to report on it. You know, not everyone’s on X, so I figure how do we get people to know about it? Well this news I think is going to really fly. So every day between now and the election we will be awarding $1,000,000 starting tonight.
In an interview with Meet the Press Sunday, Shapiro criticized Musk’s petition incentives as potential breaches of campaign finance laws:
[W]e have a difference of opinion. I don’t deny him that right, but when you start flowing this kind of money into politics I think it raises serious questions that folks may want to take a look at. … I think it’s something that law enforcement could take a look at. I’m not the attorney general anymore of Pennsylvania. I’m the Governor. But it does raise some serious questions.
Shapiro is not the only one concerned over Musk’s petition. Rich Hasan, a professor at UCLA Law and election law expert, has argued that while “some of the other things Musk was doing were of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal.” Hasan cited 52 USC § 10307, which states:
Whoever knowingly or willfully gives false information as to his name, address or period of residence in the voting district for the purpose of establishing his eligibility to register or vote, or conspires with another individual for the purpose of encouraging his false registration to vote or illegal voting, or pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
While Musk’s actions may be questionable, others are arguing they are not illegal. Jill Wine-Banks, a current legal analyst for MSNBC, had a different take:
It’s distateful, but I’m not sure it’s criminal. Is paying someone to sign a meaningless petition the same as paying them to register or to vote even if they might have been motivated to register in order to get paid to sign the petition? Also, someone should have told Musk registration in PA ends today.
Brad Smith, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, also argues that Musk’s actions are not illegal.
