Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is supporting Donald Trump, the U.S. Republican presidential candidate and former president, has become a hot topic this time when he announced at a campaign rally that he would give $1 million to one of the people signing petitions in support of freedom of expression and gun ownership before the presidential election. While the two candidates are in a close race, analysts say that it is to secure personal information of voters in competing states who participated in the signing and use it for Trump’s campaign. However, some point out that the act could be an election crime that pays money to encourage voting.
According to Reuters and others on the 19th (local time), CEO Musk announced at Trump’s campaign rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, that “a lot of people prepared a surprise gift hoping to sign the petition,” adding, “We will randomly draw one of the signers and pay 1 million dollars every day until the presidential election.” In fact, CEO Musk selected one of the people who signed the petition and paid a 1 million dollar check at the campaign rally.
Recently, CEO Musk has signed a petition to support freedom of expression of the First Amendment and the guarantee of gun ownership under Article 2 through “America Pack,” a super PAC that he himself established to support candidate Trump. He has also paid 47 dollars to registered voters in neck-and-neck states who participated in the signing. The amount of 47 dollars is because it means to re-elect Trump as the 47th U.S. president. Pennsylvania, the largest state in neck-and-neck state, specifically set a compensation of 100 dollars, which is higher than other neck-and-neck states.
Regarding this, Reuters analyzed, “CEO Musk collected the contact information of conservative voters during the petition signing process,” adding, “Republicans can campaign to encourage them to vote.”
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) explained, “It seems that (CEO Musk) is aiming at the fact that under the current law, the act of providing money to induce ticket sales and voter registration can be illegally sentenced to prison, while it is allowed to pay the petition signer.” However, the WSJ added, “According to the Justice Department’s election crime manual, all financial compensation, including lottery and welfare benefits, as well as cash, is prohibited,” adding that there is still a controversy over the illegality among experts.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
