Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Pennsylvania Challenge of Elon Musk's $1M-a-Day Voter Sweepstakes Moves to Federal Court
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 3 weeks ago on
November 1, 2024

Elon Musk's $1M-a-day voter sweepstakes faces legal challenge in Pennsylvania, moving to federal court amid election controversy. (AP File)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

PHILADELPHIA — A Pennsylvania prosecutor’s effort to shut down Elon Musk’s $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes moved to federal court on Thursday after a state judge let both sides debate their grievances in a hearing skipped by the world’s richest man.

Judge Angelo Foglietta agreed that Musk, as a named defendant in the lawsuit filed by Democratic District Attorney Larry Krasner, should have attended the hearing in person, but he declined to immediately sanction the tech mogul.

Musk’s lawyer, Matthew Haverstick, said he’s a busy man who could not simply “materialize” in the courtroom hours after the hearing was scheduled. Krasner’s team challenged the notion that the founder of SpaceX could not make it Philadelphia, prompting a quick retort from the judge.

“Counsel, he’s not going to get in a rocket ship and land on the building,” Foglietta replied.

Sweepstakes Aims to Boost Trump’s Campaign

The huge giveaways to registered voters come from Musk’s political organization, which aims to boost Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

After his lawyers argued that claims of federal election interference are involved, Foglietta put the state case on hold pending a decision in federal court, where the case was assigned to U.S. District Judge Gerald J. Pappert, a Republican former Pennsylvania attorney general appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama. No hearings there were immediately scheduled.

However, late Thursday, Krasner filed a petition to move the case back to state court in Democrat-led Philadelphia. That’s where he had filed the his lawsuit Monday, which accused Musk and his PAC of running a dubious lottery in the tense run-up to Tuesday’s election.

Pennsylvania’s Key Role in the Election

Krasner’s lawyers noted that four of the first dozen winners appeared to be from Pennsylvania, perhaps the key prize in the tight presidential race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Is it just a coincidence that this is the state that has the largest electoral votes? I don’t think so,” lawyer John Summers argued at the hearing Thursday morning.

Posts by Musk’s America PAC on X, the social media platform he purchased, indicate he’s given away 13 checks of $1 million since the first one in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 19. Other winners came from the battleground states of Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina and Michigan.

Krasner’s lawyers noted that Musk and the America PAC had “brazenly” continued the lottery every day this week, including Thursday morning, despite Krasner’s legal bid to shut it down. The sweepstakes is set to run through Election Day, open to people in too-close-to-call states who can show that they’re registered to vote and sign a petition supporting the Constitution.

“They’re doing things in the dark,” Summers told the judge. “We don’t know the rules being followed. We don’t know how they’re supposedly picking people at random … It’s an outrage.”

Legal Questions and Potential Consequences

Election law experts have raised questions about whether it violates federal law barring someone from paying others to vote. Musk has cast the money as both a prize as well as earnings for work as a spokesperson for the group.

Krasner has said he could still consider criminal charges, as he’s tasked with protecting both lotteries and the integrity of elections. In the lawsuit, he said the defendants are “indisputably violating” Pennsylvania’s lottery laws.

Both Trump and Kamala Harris have made repeated visits to the state as they fight for Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral votes.

Musk, who also owns Tesla and X, has gone all in on Trump this election, saying he thinks civilization is at stake. He is undertaking much of the get-out-the-vote effort for Trump through his super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited sums of money.

He has committed more than $70 million to the super PAC to help Trump and other Republicans win in November.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

Community Hospital CEO Craig Castro Will Retire in Early 2025

DON'T MISS

Conor McGregor Must Pay Woman $250K in Sexual Assault Case, Civil Jury Rules

DON'T MISS

Judge Delays Trump Hush Money Sentencing in Order to Decide Where Case Should Go Now

DON'T MISS

Trump Gave Interior Nominee One Directive for a Half-Billion Acres of US Land: ‘Drill’

DON'T MISS

Fresno State Gets $500K Grant for Students Facing Homelessness

DON'T MISS

NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks After Russia’s Attack With New Hypersonic Missile

DON'T MISS

Many in Gaza Are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads Amid Aid Issues

DON'T MISS

Norwegian Student Arrested on Charges of Spying on US for Russia

DON'T MISS

Eagles Seek to Extend Win Streak in Prime-Time Clash With Resurgent Rams

DON'T MISS

Nick Chubb Plows Through Heavy Snow as Browns Beat Steelers

UP NEXT

Judge Delays Trump Hush Money Sentencing in Order to Decide Where Case Should Go Now

UP NEXT

Trump Gave Interior Nominee One Directive for a Half-Billion Acres of US Land: ‘Drill’

UP NEXT

Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action to Proceed Against Meta

UP NEXT

JD Vance Is Leaving the Senate for the Vice Presidency. That’s Set Off a Scramble for His Ohio Seat

UP NEXT

Northern California Gets Record Rain and Heavy Snow. Many Have Been in the Dark for Days in Seattle

UP NEXT

What to Know About Pam Bondi, Trump’s New Pick for Attorney General

UP NEXT

Democrats Strike Deal to Get More Biden Judges Confirmed Before Congress Adjourns

UP NEXT

Newsom Gaslights on Potential Gas Price Hikes in Fresno Visit

UP NEXT

Trump Chooses Pam Bondi for Attorney General Pick After Gaetz Withdraws

UP NEXT

Jussie Smollett’s Conviction in 2019 Attack on Himself Is Overturned

Trump Gave Interior Nominee One Directive for a Half-Billion Acres of US Land: ‘Drill’

26 minutes ago

Fresno State Gets $500K Grant for Students Facing Homelessness

30 minutes ago

NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks After Russia’s Attack With New Hypersonic Missile

32 minutes ago

Many in Gaza Are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads Amid Aid Issues

38 minutes ago

Norwegian Student Arrested on Charges of Spying on US for Russia

47 minutes ago

Eagles Seek to Extend Win Streak in Prime-Time Clash With Resurgent Rams

48 minutes ago

Nick Chubb Plows Through Heavy Snow as Browns Beat Steelers

51 minutes ago

German Auto Supplier Bosch to Cut 5,500 Jobs in Further Sign of Carmakers’ Woes

55 minutes ago

Woman Found Dead in Fresno. Homicide Investigation Underway.

55 minutes ago

Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action to Proceed Against Meta

1 hour ago

Community Hospital CEO Craig Castro Will Retire in Early 2025

After five years as president and CEO and more than 20 with Community Health Systems, Craig Castro announced he would retire in early 2025. ...

7 minutes ago

7 minutes ago

Community Hospital CEO Craig Castro Will Retire in Early 2025

9 minutes ago

Conor McGregor Must Pay Woman $250K in Sexual Assault Case, Civil Jury Rules

16 minutes ago

Judge Delays Trump Hush Money Sentencing in Order to Decide Where Case Should Go Now

26 minutes ago

Trump Gave Interior Nominee One Directive for a Half-Billion Acres of US Land: ‘Drill’

30 minutes ago

Fresno State Gets $500K Grant for Students Facing Homelessness

32 minutes ago

NATO and Ukraine to Hold Emergency Talks After Russia’s Attack With New Hypersonic Missile

38 minutes ago

Many in Gaza Are Eating Just Once a Day, as Hunger Spreads Amid Aid Issues

47 minutes ago

Norwegian Student Arrested on Charges of Spying on US for Russia

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend