'Hard to prosecute Musk' for pushing the envelope of election law, expert says

Tesla CEO Elon Musk is promising to give $1 million each day to a randomly selected person who signs his online petition pledging to support the First and Second Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, which protect the rights to free speech and gun ownership. “It's a very inefficient way to register new voters, which suggests that maybe that's not his primary intent or maybe not an intent at all,” Brad Smith, a Capital University Law School professor and former Federal Election Commission chairman, told Reuters on Monday (October 21). "Although I can see the theory that one would use to argue that this violates the law, I think the better catch is that it does not.” Smith added Musk is likely in the clear because signing the petition is sufficiently far removed from registering to vote. “I don't think any of that converts this into an illegal payment for registering. This isn't something we've seen before. I feel pretty confident that it would be a very tough case to win and make stick,” he said. The giveaway could be interpreted as Musk using his wealth to attempt to influence the tightly contested presidential race between Trump and his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. Musk's America PAC seeks to play a major role in helping mobilize and register voters in battleground states that could decide the election. Terms of the petition state that signers must be registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin - all states that are likely to decide the election. But Smith said that Musk has other plausible reasons for wanting people to sign the petition, including gathering names of likely voters who support his causes. The entrepreneur has increasingly supported Republican causes and this year became an outspoken Trump supporter. Trump in turn has said that if elected, he would appoint Musk to head a government efficiency commission. (Production: Jorge Garcia) Subscribe to the ABS-CBN News channel! - http://bit.ly/TheABSCBNNews Watch full episodes on iWantTFC for FREE here: http://iwanttfc.com Visit our website at http://news.abs-cbn.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abscbnNEWS Twitter: https://twitter.com/abscbnnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abscbnnews