Just as Trump and Harris rushed to 'battle it out in Pennsylvania' on the last day, Musk's 'million dollar lottery' case officially went to trial. At least from the evidence submitted by the lawyers in court, this thing seems far from a 'lottery'.
As background, Musk announced on October 20 that his super political action committee, America PAC, would start 'giving 1 million dollars to one person who signs a petition every day', starting that day until November 5. According to them, this initiative aims to increase voter registration in the seven major swing states and does not restrict voters on which candidate to support.
Including the Arizona voter who won on November 4, there are now 17 people who have received the 'million dollar prize' checks, and officials have promised they will receive real cash by the end of November.
Not randomly selected.
Since the winners announced by America PAC 'do not support Harris at all', this event has long been questioned as not being a 'random lottery', and this doubt was finally clarified on the eve of the election. In the case filed against Musk and America PAC in Philadelphia on Monday, lawyers for the political action committee told the judge that the 'million dollar prize' event organized in swing states did not select 'winners' randomly, but chose them as 'public spokespersons' for the organization to receive compensation.
Republican lawyer Chris Gober stated that the selection of who gets the money is based on the personal stories they submitted. Gober said, 'Winners are not randomly chosen; we know exactly who will be announced as the recipient of the 1 million dollars today and tomorrow.'
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner stated on Monday, 'This so-called lottery is a scam,' completely a political marketing disguised as a lottery. The prosecutor not only requested the judge to order the closure of this event but also expressed concerns regarding how Musk's political action committee handles the data submitted by voters. According to local media reports, 1 million people have signed the petition in the seven battleground states.
In practical terms, regardless of how the judge decides, it is already too late for Musk's event. Firstly, tomorrow is election day, and secondly, the Pennsylvania court's decision is unlikely to apply to other swing states.
It is worth mentioning that the misunderstanding was caused by Musk himself. When announcing this event, he mentioned that he would 'randomly' select a winner of 1 million dollars. However, this term was not present on the official application submission page.
Lawyers explained that the word 'random' used by Musk during his speech does not equate to selecting by chance, and the prosecutor condemned this as 'absurd'.
Chris Yang, the Chief Financial Officer of America PAC, also testified that he was surprised by Musk's announcement that the awards would be given 'randomly'. He said, 'This is not a word I would choose.' He stated that he already knew who the specific winners would be in advance, and those people at least knew they would be called at the rally, just not explicitly told they would win.
Trump and Harris battle it out in Pennsylvania on the last day.
There is no doubt that on the day the election arrives, this lawsuit itself has already become insignificant. While the Pennsylvania court debated Musk's 'lottery' case, Trump and Harris were also betting on the last day of the election fight here. This indicates that both camps believe that the 19 electoral votes here will determine who the next President of the United States is.
According to the schedule, Harris will hold three events in Pennsylvania on Monday, starting in the morning from Biden's hometown of Scranton, and later holding two rallies in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Trump got up early, first holding a morning rally in North Carolina, then quickly heading to Pennsylvania, where he held rallies in Pittsburgh and Reading. Finally, he will head to Michigan, ending his 2024 campaign event in Grand Rapids—he also chose Grand Rapids for his final rally in both of his previous presidential campaigns.
Incidentally, at a campaign rally in North Carolina, Trump stated that unless Mexico implements stricter border control measures, he would impose a 25% tariff on imports from that country, emphasizing that this was the first time he announced this proposal. Of course, tariffs have always been central to Trump's foreign policy, as he has stated he would impose a 20% tariff on all imported goods.