By Jack Queen, Reuters
SpaceX and Tesla founder Elon Musk awarded Kristine Fishell with a US$1 million check. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Michael Swensen
A state judge has allowed Elon Musk's US$1 million-a-day giveaway to swing state voters to proceed in Pennsylvania with one day to go before the tightly contested US presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, Musk's favoured candidate.
Pennsylvania Judge Angelo Foglietta's decision came after a surprising day of testimony in Philadelphia state court in which Musk's aides acknowledged hand-picking the winners of the contest based on who would be the best spokespeople for his super PAC's agenda, despite the billionaire's assertion that they would be chosen randomly.
Tesla CEO Musk has already given away US$16m (NZ$26.7m) to registered swing state voters who qualified for the giveaway by signing his political petition. His group, America PAC, announced a winner from Arizona on Monday and said the final winner, from Michigan, will be announced on Election Day on Tuesday.
America PAC launched the contest on 19 October. It is open to registered voters in seven key battleground states - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - who sign a petition pledging to support free speech and gun rights.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, on 28 October sued to block the contest in Pennsylvania, alleging the payouts amounted to an illegal lottery with hazily defined rules. Foglietta denied Krasner's bid in a brief written order and said he would lay out his reasoning later.
Musk became an outspoken Trump supporter this year and has promoted the former president on his X social media platform. He has so far given nearly US$120m to America PAC to promote its voter mobilisation and registration efforts, according to federal disclosures.
Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania, one of seven battleground states likely to determine the outcome of the race between Trump, a Republican, and Harris, the Democratic candidate. Whoever wins the state will receive its 19 electoral votes out of a total of 270 needed to win.
The giveaway falls in a gray area of election law, and legal experts are divided on whether Musk could be violating federal laws against paying people to register to vote.
The US Department of Justice has warned America PAC that the giveaway could violate federal law, according to media reports, but federal prosecutors have not taken any public action.
The Trump campaign is broadly reliant on outside groups for canvassing voters, meaning the super PAC founded by Musk, the world's richest man, plays an outsized role in what is expected to be a razor-thin election.
- Reuters
