Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk speaks at a rally for former U.S. president and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Madison Square Garden in New York, Oct. 27, 2024. Billionaire Elon Musk was expected in court in Philadelphia on Oct. 31, 2024, after a judge ordered him to attend a hearing in a lawsuit seeking to halt his $1 million giveaways to registered U.S. voters in swing states.Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

Colby Cosh: Elon Musk's get-out-the-vote gamble

The zillionaire rocketeer's giveaway lottery for newly registered American voters might land him in prison

01 Nov 2024, 10:00 by Colby Cosh · National Post

On Thursday morning, a judge in Pennsylvania declined to put a stop to the Great Elon Musk Giveaway currently happening in seven American states that are particularly crucial in next week’s national elections. Every day between now and the vote, the zillionaire rocketeer, an unabashed backer of Donald Trump, is giving away million-dollar prizes through his America PAC campaign organization to randomly chosen Americans who sign a petition supporting the First (free speech) and Second (bear arms) Amendments to the United States Constitution. The offer is restricted to registered voters in the states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, which is looking especially pivotal to Republican (and Democratic) hopes in the Electoral College calculus.