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Hearing comes one day before U.S. election

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Suit says giveaway violates state consumer protection laws

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America PAC has given away $16 million to registered

voters

By Jack Queen

Nov 4 (Reuters) - A judge in the battleground state of

Pennsylvania on Monday will weigh whether to stop Elon Musk's $1

million-a-day giveaway to registered voters ahead of the U.S.

presidential election.

The hearing comes just one day before Democratic Vice

President Kamala Harris and Republican former President Donald

Trump will square off in the tightly contested race. Musk and

his political action committee are backing Trump.

Since Oct. 19, Tesla CEO Musk has been giving a $1

million check every day to a randomly selected voter who has

signed his petition supporting free speech and gun rights.

Musk's offer is limited to registered voters in the seven

states expected to decide the election - Arizona, Georgia,

Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Musk became an outspoken Trump supporter this year and has

promoted the former president on his X social media platform.

Researchers said last week that X has been ineffective in

countering a surge in election misinformation.

So far, Musk's America PAC has awarded $1 million prizes to

16 people and said the final prize will be given on Nov. 5.

Democratic Philadelphia District Attorney Lawrence Krasner

sued Musk and his political action committee in state court on

Oct. 28 to try to block the giveaway. Krasner, a champion of

progressive causes, called the program an illegal lottery that

violates state consumer protection laws.

He also alleged that people who receive Musk's money are

"not actually chosen at random," citing two winners who attended

two pro-Trump rallies.

Philadelphia is the largest city in Pennsylvania, one of

seven battleground states likely to determine the outcome of the

race between Trump and Harris. Whichever candidate wins the

state will receive its 19 electoral votes out of a total of 270

needed to win.

Musk and his America PAC sought to move the case to federal

court, arguing Krasner's lawsuit raised questions about

free-speech rights and election interference that belong in

federal court.

But on Friday, U.S. District Judge Gerald Pappert in

Philadelphia federal court said the case belonged in state court

and later that day Judge Angelo Foglietta scheduled a hearing in

the case.

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 U.S. Department of Justice has warned America PAC the

giveaway could violate federal law, according to media reports,

but federal prosecutors have not taken any public action.

Musk has so far given nearly $120 million to America PAC,

according to federal disclosures.

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.