Elon Musk lawyer says US$1 million voter giveaway winners are not random

Elon Musk's pro-Trump group does not choose the winners of its US$1 million-a-day (NZ$1.7m) giveaway to registered voters at random, but instead picks people who would be good spokespeople for its agenda, a lawyer for the billionaire said.

Musk lawyer Chris Gober was trying to persuade a Pennsylvania judge that the giveaway was not an "illegal lottery," as Philadelphia district attorney Lawrence Krasner alleged in a lawsuit seeking to block the contest ahead of Wednesday's US presidential election.

"There is no prize to be won, instead recipients must fulfil contractual obligations to serve as a spokesperson for the PAC," Gober said in the hearing before Judge Angelo Foglietta.

The hearing in the battleground state 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 19 October, Tesla CEO Musk has been giving a US$1 million check every day to a randomly selected voter who has signed his petition supporting free speech and gun rights. Musk became an outspoken Trump supporter this year and has promoted the former president on his X social media platform.

Krasner, a Democrat, sued Musk and his political action committee in state court on 28 October to try to block the giveaway, which he called an illegal lottery that violates state consumer protection laws.

A lawyer for Krasner's office, John Summers, called Gober's comments a "complete admission of liability."

"We just heard this guy say, my boss, my client, called this random," Summers said. "We promised people that they were going to participate in a random process, but it's a process where we pre-select people."

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.

So far, Musk's America PAC has awarded US$1 million prizes to 16 people and said the final prize will be given on 5 November.

Krasner took the stand to offer evidence. Under questioning from Summers, he said two Pennsylvania residents had been "scammed for their information" and called the giveaway a "grift" aimed at political marketing.

Foglietta asked Summers whether an order blocking the giveaway would have any impact, given Musk plans to end it on Election day. Summers said there was still one more prize planned for 5 November, and said there would be no harm in blocking Musk from continuing the giveaway even if he says he will stop.

The remaining two winners will be from Arizona and Michigan, America PAC says on its website.

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, US District Judge Gerald Pappert in Philadelphia federal court said the case belonged in state court and later that day Foglietta scheduled a hearing in the case.

The giveaway falls in a grey 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 US 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 US$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.

- Reuters