1moretimeagain
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They’re not voters though, they are petition signers. (wink wink)
Elon Musk / Tesla / SpaceX / Twitter / D.O.G.E.
- Thread starter nycfan
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You’re welcome!
heelinhell
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Peter Thiel Invests In Polymarket Political Betting Platform—But The Future Of Gambling On Elections Remains Unclear
Regulators proposed new rules Friday that would explicitly ban gambling on political contests.
www.forbes.com
4 Theories Why Trump Is Winning Big in the Betting Markets
“They’re convincing themselves this is real.”
nymag.com
What we know about the mystery trader betting big on a Trump win
Fredi9999 has placed millions of dollars in bets on Trump winning the presidential race — so much that it could be swaying the prediction markets.
www.newsweek.com
rodoheel
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Don’t worry, Elon has now responded:
No big deal, just the worlds richest man trying to get random state officials killed for political and personal gain.
superrific
Inconceivable Member
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I hope someone prosecutes his ass for paying voters. That shit is very illegal. Josh Shapiro knows it. If Kamala wins, DOJ needs to prosecute that motherfucker and throw his ass in jail. Don't be scared of his lawyers. They can't do anything to protect him.
JCTarheel82
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I already have the nickname FElon lined up and ready to go if this happens.
lawtig02
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I assume that handle has already been registered with X?
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I think I prefer fElon
He's not paying voters. He's paying people to sign a petition. Are you aware of any law against that (there may be, but I'd think it would have First Amendment problems under Citizens United).
JCTarheel82
Esteemed Member
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You're right. Good call. I'll split any future copyright profits with you
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“Making a million dollar prize contingent on registering to vote is illegal. See 52 USC 10307(c) https://govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title52/pdf/USCODE-2023-title52-subtitleI-chap103-sec10307.pdf”
I thought the million dollar prize was for people who signed his petition?
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But you have to register to vote to sign the petition.
Where do you see that?
superrific
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There would not be First Am problems under Citizens United. I looked into this issue quite a bit a few years ago. I was thinking about writing on it.
Elon Musk Veers Into Clearly Illegal Vote Buying, Offering $1 Million Per Day Lottery Prize Only to Registered Voters #ELB
Hugo Lowell: “Elon Musk says on stage at a town hall that America PAC will be awarding $1 million every day until the election to a registered Pennsylvania voter who has signed his petition. Musk awarded the first $1 million … Continue reading Elon Musk Veers Into Clearly Illegal Vote Buying...
electionlawblog.org
Rick Hasen thinks it is illegal. I am not so sure. Per the linked screen grab in the post, Musk is requiring that you need to be a registered voter to sign the petition. But you don't need to be a newly registered voter.
Paying $47 per registered voter signed up would seem to be closer, but if you are paying the canvaser, and not the voter, I am note sure how that is materially different than paying voter canvasers.
Edit -- thinking about the issue some more and re-reading Hasen's post, he makes a good point that the petition lottery is limited to registered voters in 7 swing states, which suggests that the intent is to induce new registrations and not to get people to sign the petition. The petition is simply a smokescreen to give him a colorable scienter defense. Still, I think that would be a hard case to prosecute, and even if a conviction were obtained, I could see this Supreme Court ultimately reversing on First Amendment grounds.
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I just updated below. I don't think you could legally outlaw paying people to sign a petition. The registered voter issue makes it a little murkier.
superrific
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I don't think there is a constitutional right to pay people to sign a petition. That there is no applicable statute perhaps speaks to the perceived wisdom of such a rule, but I can't see how the First Am would bar it.
Paying a canvasser is completely different. That's an employment relationship. I don't think it's governed by the First Amendment. For instance, suppose a canvassing firm wanted to pay its canvassers below minimum wage. I don't think there would be a First Am defense to that. Do you?
Think about it in terms of practicality. It would be really, really hard to get enough signatures for ballots without paying people. It is not hard at all to get people to sign a petition without being paid. This speaks, I think, to my argument above that canvassing is an employment activity and not political activity, but you could also look at it from the perspective of strict scrutiny. A law outlawing canvassing would be broad, and perhaps unlikely to be narrowly tailored as required by any form of heightened scrutiny. A law outlawing paying for signatures is much more narrowly tailored toward the problem at hand.
I don't think it's a hard case. As you know, my experience in criminal law is limited so what I think about the difficulty of proving it isn't worth that much, but at least in theory I don't think it's hard.