Elon Musk paying people to resister to vote: is the USA the new Moldova?

[Larniavc]

“It is illegal to give out money on the condition that recipients register as voters,” Adav Noti, executive director of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center.

The Legal Questions Around Elon Musk’s Million-Dollar Prize

Experts say that the prize could be a violation of federal law.

time.com

Is Mr Musk taking a leaf out of the book of Russian vote buying election interference in Moldova by offering money to people if they register to vote in Georgia (not that one, the one in America) and other swing states?

Is America’s democracy the fat kid that the rich kids bully into doing their bidding by buying them sweets?

 

[d taylor]

-

​

Government, Politics is so corrupt why is this even news.

 

[DaisyDay]

-​

Government, Politics is so corrupt why is this even news.

Because it is rare that someone has tried so openly to buy the government.

If Trump should be elected, there will be no legal repercussions for Musk as part of Agenda 47 is to eliminate the idea of an independent Department of Justice and make it entirely subject to the president's whims and desires.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/20/politics/elon-musk-voter-giveaway-legal-questions/index.html

I'm assuming that he has a battery of attorney's that already reviewed all of the loopholes and legal minutia and have their "defense" pre-crafted.

Sounds like the angle they're going for is claiming it's a "job opportunity"

a job opportunity, saying winners “will be selected to earn $1M as a spokesperson for America PAC.” The two winners picked over the weekend have appeared in promotional videos on the super PAC’s account on X, formerly Twitter.


It's a legal grey area, as there have been other instances (even this past year) that have involved "dangling a carrot" to try to get people to register to vote.

Ariana Grande Partners With HeadCount for ‘Wicked’ Contest to Increase Voter Registration

Ariana Grande and voter-registration nonprofit HeadCount have launched a 'Wicked' contest aiming to increase voter registration among young people.

variety.com

While it's pretty clear that Musk's little contest is specifically trying to identify and register likely Republican voters, one could make the argument that Ariana Grande, allowing people enter in a contest to attend the premier of a broadway show (and win free cosmetics from her personal line) is certainly trying to isolate and target a particular type of voter as well.


...and while the law specifically pertains to federal elections, other organizations have tried these sorts of antics in local elections in the past

'Voteria' offers $25,000 prize for voting in Los Angeles school board election

US’s oldest nonpartisan Latino voter participation organisation is trying to combat voter apathy but critics say prize destroys integrity of democratic process

www.theguardian.com

Ironically enough, Trump actually tried to sue the Nevada Native Vote organization for doing something very similar...it wasn't a million bucks obviously, but they were offering Visa gift cards in "raffle format" for people who showed they voted.

Fact-checking claim that Native Americans were paid to vote

Speaking before North Carolina Republicans, former President Donald Trump on June 5 rehashed a number of falsehoods abou

www.politifact.com

(while his overall speech was riddled with conspiracy theories and fibs, the tiny nugget of it that actually had merit, that was lost in the sea of falsehoods, was that Nevada Native Vote was questionable in their gift card incentive program)

Ben & Jerry's found themselves in hot water for running such a promotion as well (and they responded to a cease&desist by just expanding their free ice cream day to everyone instead of just the people who voted lol)

Elon Musk's $1m-a-day giveaway in swing states 'deeply concerning'

The winner will be chosen from those who sign a petition by the tech billionaire's Trump-supporting group.

www.bbc.com

But the strategy may be covered by a loophole under US election law because no-one is being directly paid to vote - despite introducing money into a process that could identify likely Trump voters.

In the US, it is illegal to provide payments to get people to vote - not only for a certain candidate, but to simply cast a ballot.

The rule prompted ice cream-maker Ben & Jerry's to give its product free to everyone on election day in 2008, having initially planned to limit it just to those with an "I voted" sticker.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Let's hope the results are similar:

Pro-EU leader wins Moldova election despite alleged Russian meddling​

Sandu won 55% of the vote, according to preliminary results, and in a late-night speech on Sunday she promised to be president for all Moldovans.

 

[Truth7t7]

“It is illegal to give out money on the condition that recipients register as voters,” Adav Noti, executive director of the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center.

The Legal Questions Around Elon Musk’s Million-Dollar Prize

Experts say that the prize could be a violation of federal law.

time.com

Is Mr Musk taking a leaf out of the book of Russian vote buying election interference in Moldova by offering money to people if they register to vote in Georgia (not that one, the one in America) and other swing states?

Is America’s democracy the fat kid that the rich kids bully into doing their bidding by buying them sweets?

Would that be like Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg donating $400+ Million to election vote counting and causes with written strings attached by Zuckerberg to the monies?

Elon's $1 Million is a far cry from Zuckerbergs $400+ Million dont ya think?

NewYorkPost​

Zuckerberg’s election spending was ‘carefully orchestrated’ to influence 2020 vote: ex-FEC member​

Published Oct. 14, 2021

 

[essentialsaltes]

Would that be like Facebooks Mark Zuckerberg donating $400+ Million to election vote counting and causes with written strings attached by Zuckerberg to the monies?

What written strings?

Anyway, from your source:

Spokesman Ben LaBolt said the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which received the bulk of the funding, “issued an open call to local election jurisdictions across the country and provided funding to all jurisdictions that applied no matter whether they were historically Republican, Democratic or swing districts.”

“More of the jurisdictions that received funding historically voted Republican than Democratic, so the facts belie the claim,” he said.

 

[Truth7t7]

What written strings?

Anyway, from your source:

Spokesman Ben LaBolt said the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which received the bulk of the funding, “issued an open call to local election jurisdictions across the country and provided funding to all jurisdictions that applied no matter whether they were historically Republican, Democratic or swing districts.”

“More of the jurisdictions that received funding historically voted Republican than Democratic, so the facts belie the claim,” he said.

Roughly 1/8th of Zuckerberg's donation went to swing state Georgia, where Biden won by 11,000 votes "Fact"

Clip NYPost Article:

Former US Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), who lost a January runoff to Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock, also retweeted The Post’s report.

“Zuckerberg infiltrated our elections, doling out $45M in GA alone to engineer a partisan takeover of our state’s elections operations,” she wrote.

 

[rambot]

Oh it's okay. It's not ACTUALLY a chance based draw anyways.

They are CHOOSING the winner that will be the spokesperson for the PAC to ensure the person's philosophy matches.

Doesn't seem over chance based.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Roughly 1/8th of Zuckerberg's donation went to swing state Georgia, where Biden won by 11,000 votes "Fact"

So no strings then? And no evidence to contradict the fact that grants were given to every jurisdiction that asked.