No more $ 1 million checks on voters

From Ryan SabalowCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

California Senator Tom Humberg was referring to one person when he prepared a proposal this year that would prohibit large monetary incentives from being voters in hot -contested elections.

“There is a man named Elon Musk”, Humberg, Democrat representing the area of ​​Santa Anna, told his colleagues Earlier this year. “You may have heard of him.”

Humberg’s bill will close what he calls an election law in California that he is afraid of Musk and other wealthy people will exploit as the host of the lottery to increase turnout. Musk gave $ 1 million checks to swing the government voters in the presidential election last year and then in Wisconsin a few months later.

Humberg’s bill is at least a dozen other pending measures in the legislature aimed at voting and election rules in California, according to an analysis of Calmatters of Digital democracy databaseS Proposals include the one that will require high schools To provide information on the registration of voters to students. Another aim to improve the vote for members of the service abroadS Another strives to help address One of the biggest criticisms of the California elections: that employees are needed for weeks longer than other countries to issue definitive vote counts.

But only one of the measures is aimed at the richest person in the world and his contradictory tactics for registration of voters. Neither Musk nor his political action committee took a position on Umberg Senate Bill 398Which is easily advanced through the Senate of California and is now waiting in the Assembly.

Musk exploits a legal door

The bill is in response to how Musk and his political action committee tried to ahead of President Donald Trump’s support last fall. Musk has announced in seven contested swing, indicates that it will be Distributing $ 1 million a day To those selected by a group who signed a petition to support the rights of weapons and freedom of expression. The only requirement was to sign the petition to be registered voters. Musk and his lawyers argue The submission was not real lotteries as the winners were not chosen by accident and the awarded became “Musk speakers”.

A few months later, at the beginning of the controversial race of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin, Musk awarded checks for $ 1 million to at least two votersS He too $ 100 payments are offered For registered voters who have signed petition Opposed to “activist judges”.

This is already a crime in California and under the Federal Law to offer money in exchange for votes or to persuade people to register. Legal experts In front of NBC News That since Musk and his super again did not pay specifically to people to register to vote or vote in a certain way, he fell into a legitimate gray area. Plaintiffs in pending lawsuits Later, it is claimed that gifts are fraudulent, the claim Musk and his lawyers deny, or that they have not been paid Wisconsin Government Monitoring Group A claim filed last weekwanting to prevent Musk from offering future payments.

Umberg’s measure will do it further by making it a crime in California to pay people, including by lotteries or other prizes, “depending on whether the person voted or the status of registration of the voters of the face.”

Violators will be up to three years in prison and $ 10,000 fines. Proponents of the bill, such as Trent Lange, CEO of the California Clean Campaign, say there must be penalties to ban what Musk did.

“One of the cornerstones of our democracy is the principle that no one should be allowed to buy voices,” ” Lange said The Senate Committee on Election and Amendments of the Constitution in April. “These are transparent attempts to give major financial incentives to people to register in order to vote. So far, they have diverged.”

Humberg’s bill advanced from the Senate at the end of last month unanimously, including with all 10 Republican senators who voted for it. No Republican has discussed the bill during the short floor.

The measure is not yet scheduled to listen to assembly.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.