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Dear John,
If we ever needed more evidence that the extreme wealth of billionaires creates a massive distortion in democratic processes, Elon Musk’s actions in the final weeks of this campaign have removed any doubt.
Musk has privately donated at least $75 million to the Trump campaign through his America PAC. But that’s not all.
Now Musk is holding a series of rallies of his own, and has promised to give away $1 million a day to 16 randomly selected attendees who sign his petition supporting the First and Second Amendments, and who have registered and voted in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin.
There’s just one problem with this brilliant scheme to use his unprecedented wealth to buy Trump swing-state voters for this election: It is almost certainly illegal.
The problem, as first noted by UCLA law professor Rick Hansen, is that federal law prohibits making or offering to make “an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate” -- an offense punishable by a fine or up to a year in prison.
Musk has already given away his first $1 million check, and in response, Pennsylvania’s former attorney general and current governor Josh Shapiro told “Meet the Press” that Musk’s one-man voter lottery is “deeply concerning.” He called on law enforcement to “take a look” at its legality.
Law enforcement should definitely look into Musk’s million-dollar-a-day lottery to buy Trump swing voters! Demand the Justice Department investigate and prosecute Elon Musk’s potentially illegal campaign events now!
Let’s be clear about what’s at stake. With the largest electoral vote prize of any swing state, it will be very difficult for either candidate to win the presidency without winning Pennsylvania.
As UCLA legal expert Hansen notes, for Musk’s actions to be illegal, it’s not necessary for him to require that a person vote for or against a particular candidate. Any offering of something of value as an inducement to vote or not to vote is enough.
In addition to the $1 million per day giveaways, Musk is also offering $100 directly to every Pennsylvania voter who signs his petition, and another $100 to anyone who refers a voter registered in Pennsylvania to sign.
Musk’s goal of obtaining one million signatures is a scheme to collect contact information and demographic data on likely Trump voters in order to get out the vote on or before Election Day appears to be legal, but offering prizes as a reward might not be.
Musk’s outrageous use of his billions to try to buy millions of votes is yet one more example of how our democracy is drowning under the “money is speech” doctrine of the Supreme Court’s Citizens’ United decision. It’s crucial that Congress pass the Billionaire Minimum Income Tax or similar legislation and make the ultra-rich start paying their fair share of taxes to curb their excessive and anti-democratic concentrations of political power.
The law against buying votes is clear, but whether anyone is going to enforce it is another question. This is why the Justice Department needs to hear from us: Elon Musk must be held to account for these likely violations of campaign law.
To be clear, absolutely no one who signs our petition will get $1 million dollars from us -- or any amount of money frankly. But by demanding the Justice Department investigate and hold Elon Musk accountable, you will get the satisfaction of standing up to a billionaire bully.
Democracy demands participation. Thank you for taking action.
Now, if you haven’t already, go vote!
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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