When Elon Musk started up his very normal swing state voter encouragement petition referral program and lottery, pretty much everyone with a head on their shoulders immediately said that it was extremely illegal for myriad reasons. Most folks said it ran afoul of laws preventing people from using cash to encourage voter registrations, but it seems Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has a different take: He’s suing Elon Musk and his America PAC not for the voter incentives, but for running an illegal, unregulated lottery.
Musk has recently operated his lottery, which may not actually be paying anyone involved, in spite of a Justice Department warning that stated the effort may be in violation of federal law. Since warnings don’t seem to stop the Tesla CEO, the Philadelphia DA had to go further by jumping straight to a lawsuit. From NBC:
“America PAC and Musk are lulling Philadelphia citizens — and others in the Commonwealth (and other swing states in the upcoming election) — to give up their personal identifying information and make a political pledge in exchange for the chance to win $1 million. That is a lottery,” the suit alleges. “And it is indisputably an unlawful lottery. Under unambiguous Pennsylvania law, all lotteries in Pennsylvania must be regulated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
The suit has already been attacked with antisemitic conspiracy theories, but Pennsylvania does have laws explicitly banning lotteries not authorized by the state. The definition of a lottery, however, might be trickier for Krasner. Pennsylvania law seems to only use the definition “The lottery established and operated under the law,” but the federal definition requires money to be advanced by entrants. Musk’s America PAC doesn’t hinge the possibility of winning on any cash donation or ticket purchase, but does require that entrants give up personal information in exchange.
The hearing on this case is set for November 1, meaning we’ll get more information before election day. Still, that may be too late to stop Musk’s allegedly illegal actions from having an impact on voters’ mindsets — although he may not be giving the impression he hopes.