Billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban sparked widespread debate on social media with a post questioning the legality of Elon Musk’s latest political initiative.
Controversy surrounds Musk’s recently announced plan to offer $1 million daily prizes to voters in swing states who sign a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Musk, CEO of , in Pennsylvania.
According to Musk, his America PAC (Political Action Committee) would offer registered voters in key swing states the chance to earn $1 million a day until the November 5 election.
To participate, registered voters must sign a statement stating: “The First and Second Amendments guarantee freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.”
Musk announced the first winner, John Dreher, at the Harrisburg event. The next two winners will come from Pennsylvania, after which the contest will be open to registered voters in Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina.
Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight aggregator, which estimates presidential candidates’ polling averages by analyzing multiple polls, has Trump and Harris tied in Pennsylvania at 47.8 percent as of Sunday afternoon.
The controversy grew online when Cuban shared an article by distinguished journalist and researcher Norman Ornstein on “
Cuban reposted the post and tagged Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, which has garnered 1.4 million views and 3,400 comments, saying, “I’m pretty sure that while this may or may not violate election laws, it may violate Pennsylvania gambling laws. » he wrote on X.
To support his argument, the tech entrepreneur included a screenshot of the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue’s website, which states: “In Pennsylvania, all forms of gambling are illegal unless expressly permitted by law. »
The list also includes other legal forms of gambling in the state, including the Pennsylvania Lottery, bingo, slot machines, table games and small games of chance.
During an interview Sunday on NBC’s “Meet The Press,” Governor Shapiro expressed concerns about Musk’s latest election initiative, saying, “I think it’s something that the forces of the order could examine.”
This controversial project has also attracted the attention of legal experts in the field of electoral law. THE Associated Press reports that election law experts are concerned about the legality of Musk’s gift.
Campaign finance attorney Brendan Fischer suggests the contest may be approaching a legal limit by requiring voter registration to be eligible for prizes. Fischer said in an email to P.A.“There would be little doubt about the legality if all Pennsylvania-based signers of the petition were eligible, but conditioning payments on registration arguably violates the law.”
Rick Hasen, a professor at UCLA Law School, points to laws prohibiting payment for voter registration or voting. “If he was just paying people to sign the petition, that might be a waste of money. But there’s nothing illegal about it,” he said in an interview.
“The problem is that the only people eligible to enter this contest are people registered to vote. Which makes it illegal.”
Thanks to the people who referred me to the sweepstakes law. I leave it to the lawyers. But if he follows the applicable law, he must admit that it might be legal.
This does not take into account FEC laws. https://t.co/dhf4CQKt3Q
– Mark Cuban (@mcuban) October 20, 2024
In a follow-up message, Cuban later said he would defer to professional legal advice on the matter: “Thanks for the people who referred me to the sweepstakes law. I’ll defer to it to the lawyers. But if he follows the applicable law, he has to admit it. It looks like it might be legal.”
He added a caveat: “This ignores FEC laws.”
