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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

(Updates with judge decision)

By Jack Queen

PHILADELPHIA, Nov 4 (Reuters) -

A state judge on Monday allowed Elon Musk's $1 million-a-day

giveaway to swing state voters to proceed in Pennsylvania with

one day to go before the tightly contested U.S. presidential

election between Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump,

Musk's favored candidate.

Tesla CEO Musk has already given away $16

million to registered swing state voters who qualified for the

giveaway by signing his political petition and said the final

winner will be announced on Election Day on Tuesday.

At a hearing in Philadelphia on Monday, Judge Angelo

Foglietta rejected Philadelphia District Attorney Larry

Krasner's bid to block the giveaways. Krasner alleged the

payouts amounted to an illegal lottery with hazily defined

rules.

Since Oct. 19, Musk and his political action committee

America PAC have been giving a $1 million check every day to a

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. He has so far given nearly $120 million to America PAC

to promote its voter mobilization and registration efforts,

according to federal disclosures.

Krasner, a champion of progressive causes, called the

program an illegal lottery that violates state consumer

protection laws.

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 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.

Last week, Musk and America PAC sought to move the case

to federal court, which temporarily prevented a state court

judge from ruling on Krasner's request for an order blocking the

giveaways. A federal judge swiftly sent the case back to state

court, setting up Monday's hearing.