Tesla CEO and X owner Elon Musk speaks during a rally for Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. president Donald Trump, at the site of the July assassination attempt against Trump, in Butler, Pennsylvania, U.S., October 5, 2024.
Carlos Barria | Reuters
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is backing Donald Trump in the presidential election, on Sunday touted a $47 referral bonus that the billionaire’s political action committee is offering to people for each registered swing-state voter whom they refer to an online petition that requires signers to submit personal contact information.
“For every person you refer who is a swing state voter, you get $47!” Musk wrote in a post on X, the social media site that he owns. “Easy money.” If Trump is elected, he would be the 47th president of the United States.
The petition declares that its signers support “First and Second Amendment rights,” but it contains no details about who the petition will be delivered to, or when, or any demands that the signers have; all core elements of traditional petitions.
Instead, the petition seeks the personal contact information of swing-state voters. Upon signing, all users, regardless of their state, are directed to a page that contains voter registration links for just seven states: Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Musk’s America PAC said its goal “is to get 1 million registered voters in swing states to sign in support of the Constitution, especially freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.”
“This program is exclusively open to registered voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina,” the PAC said.
The petition is not the America PAC’s first time trying to collect valuable swing-state voter contact information online. But it is the first effort which includes an offer of money to people who help the PAC locate registered voters.
Earlier this year, the America PAC was briefly investigated by the North Carolina Attorney General’s office and the Michigan Secretary of State’s office after CNBC revealed that the PAC was collecting personal contact information of swing-state voters under the false pretense of helping them register to vote.
In response to the inquiries, the PAC told state officials it would fix several dead-end links on its site.
Musk says he is the founder of the America PAC, which has received donations from people connected to him. But a federal disclosure report in July did not show any donations directly from Musk through the end of June. The billionaire has reportedly contributed the PAC since then, but the next reports are not due until mid-November.
CNBC has requested comment on the petition from spokespeople for Musk.
Musk’s promotion of the petition came a day after he appeared with Trump at a campaign rally by the Republican presidential nominee in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler on July 13.
“This is no ordinary election,” Musk told rally attendees on Saturday. “President Trump must win
to preserve the Constitution. He must win to preserve democracy in America.”
Those states are considered highly likely to provide the margin of victory in the election contest between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
The link to the petition asks respondents if someone referred them to the site, and then askes for that person’s email or cell phone number.
It was unclear Monday how the PAC would actually deliver the payments it was promising.