Philly DA files lawsuit to stop Musk’s $1M voter gift in PA

Voters return their mail-in ballots for the 2024 General Election in the United States on Friday, October 25, 2024, in front of the Chester County Government Services Center in West Chester, Pennsylvania. AP Photo/Matt Slocum

PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner filed a lawsuit Monday to stop Elon Musk’s $1 million daily giveaway to voters in battleground states including Pennsylvania, saying it was an illegal sweepstakes that exceeded state requirements and violated consumer protection laws.

The lawsuit, filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court, is the first legal action against the controversial sweepstakes, which was launched earlier this month. Musk’s America PAC. This comes a week after the U.S. Department of Justice similarly warned the tech billionaire that the gift violated federal laws banning voter solicitation.

But Musk has so far ignored that warning, continuing his promise to hand out rewards to registered voters in seven battleground states every day until election day. His PAC donated more than $9 million; nearly half of that was given to Pennsylvania voters.

The new case gives Krasner, a progressive prosecutor and a frequent target of Republican ire, the opportunity to take on Musk in court. GOP Donald Trump’s top surrogates in the final days of an extraordinarily close and contentious presidential race in the state.

“America PAC and Musk must be stopped immediately before the Presidential Election on November 5,” Krasner’s lawsuit read. “This is because America PAC and Musk put illegal lottery schemes in place to influence voters in this election.”

Representatives of Musk’s America PAC, which has pledged about $118 million to re-elect Trump, could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

According to the website, the sweepstakes is “exclusively open to registered voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina”; These are key battleground states where Musk has launched a campaign to turn voters for Trump.

To participate, participants must sign a petition on the PAC’s website affirming their support for the First and Second Amendments of the Constitution.

Musk handed out the first big check at a pro-Trump rally in Harrisburg on Oct. 19 and followed up with daily prizes — often touted in flashy video interviews with winners on social media platform X.

But the giveaways faced almost immediate scrutiny from election law experts who said that by opening the contest only to registered voters, Musk appeared to be offering battleground state residents valuable items in exchange for registering to vote; this is a violation of federal law.

Musk defended his gifts at an online town hall event on Friday at X, after the U.S. Department of Justice warned the PAC in a letter last week about this apparent violation.

“To be clear, this is not a petition for anyone to vote or register,” he said. “This is truly a petition in support of the Constitution of the United States, particularly freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.”

He went on to award nearly $5 million to registered voters in Wisconsin, Michigan, Nevada, Arizona and Pennsylvania, according to America PAC’s website.

As of Wednesday, more than 280,000 registered voters in Pennsylvania have signed the participation petition, according to the PAC. The last award listed in Pennsylvania was awarded to a Lancaster voter on Saturday.

But in his lawsuit filed Monday, Krasner advanced a new legal argument to block further awards in Pennsylvania.

While Pennsylvania law prohibits bribery in exchange for votes, there is no equivalent law prohibiting solicitation of registration to vote.

Instead, Krasner argued that Musk’s gifts essentially operated like a lottery, and under Pennsylvania law it could only be administered by the state and for the benefit of Pennsylvania seniors.

Krasner also alleged that America PAC violated various aspects of Pennsylvania’s consumer protection laws, including failing to publish detailed sweepstakes rules or show how it protected participants’ personal information.

The district attorney also questioned the fairness of the contest.

“Although Musk says the selection of the winner was ‘random,’ this appears false,” the lawsuit states. “The multiple winners chosen are people who attended Trump rallies in Pennsylvania.”

Krasner asked the court to issue an injunction prohibiting the continued distribution of gifts in Pennsylvania.

A judge has not yet scheduled a hearing in the case.

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