Musk offering $47 for referrals to his petition is a big deal.

[joshcryer]

This is trivially easy money and it makes hundreds of individual "supporters" go out and shill for Trump.

"Hey can you sign this 1st and 2nd Amendment Petition? It's from Elon Musk's Pac. Oh yeah he supports Trump. If you sign people up you can get $47 per registered voter, too!"

So many people are going to inadvertently commit literal crimes by this petition, because it's illegal to offer people money to pay for registration, or for their vote, but if you register someone, because it's a referral-based thing, there's a huge temptation to tell people you will split the money with them if you do the referral and / or register. (As someone who donates plasma and gets referral bonuses I do this all the time, so this is not an abnormal offer, but it is highly illegal when it comes to registration / voting.)

In fact, the most devious part of all, is that since people will verifiably be able to be seen to register after being referred, they will put a huge spotlight on them in the event Musk does get investigated for it. Like, literally their full names and addresses telling the investigators that they're doing something fishy. All it takes is one or two people to get put in an interrogation room in a chain of referrals and a lot of people go to jail.

Worse, there are going to undoubtedly be people who sign up who are not registered, and cannot be registered, because they are illegals or non-citizens or (potentially) felons. Musk can and will use this in the upcoming lawsuits to "prove" that fraud is going on, using his own platform! (Yes, logically there is no connection to someone signing a petition and someone registering / voting but he will still use that.)

This is, in my opinion, akin to Chavistas in Venezuela paying people with washers and driers and stuff for their "registration." Giving people clothes, food, TVs, etc (yes that does happen in Venezuela). It might not be direct vote buying but it is damn damn close.

The whole thing reeks of a criminal enterprise!

[RandySF]

1. Hucksterism is a conservative trait.

[Klarkashton]

2. It's too little too late for now. It's complicated

Too. How is the money distributed?

This sounds like an idea developed under the influence of a huge blunt.

[Quiet Em]

3. Trump was depending on Elon to handle the swing state ground game

If this is what their plan is then I'm not too worried. All this will do is get a bunch of Elon fanboys to sign his petition. Signing a petition does not equal showing up and voting in an election.

[joshcryer]

7. It's $47 to get people to register (and they will remember that $47 if they vote)...

And they will remember who gave them $47. Or $470. Or $4700. When they vote.

[Quiet Em]

8. It's illegal to pay someone to register to vote

I don't believe this weird petition scheme will amount to much, except maybe give Maye Musk the fake names she was looking for to commit voter fraud.

[JoseBalow]

10. It's $47 per signature collected. Perfectly legal, and very common to pay signature collecters.

NOT paying to register, paying to collect signatures.

he is offering $47 for each voter recruited to sign it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/07/us/politics/elon-musk-47-dollars-petition.html

[joshcryer]

11. He's paying signature collection for a petition which cross references...

...registered voters. This is absolutely not legal if any of those signature collectors promises to split the referral money.

[JoseBalow]

12. Are they promising to split the referral money?

[CentralMass]

4. Elmo the @$$ nugget.

[Initech]

5. Perfect reason why today would be a good day to make the billionaires pay their share.

[2naSalit]

6. Even his mother...

Is in on it, telling people to vote several times and encouraging them to do illegal things.

[walkingman]

9. Seems like that would be illegal?

[B.See]

13. Doesn't matter. Like I keep saying

Laws are (apparently) intended for us, not them.