#ElonMusk is known for…eschewing #regulatory restrictions. He is notorious for setting sky-high expectations for employees & then cutting loose individuals or whole teams that disappoint him.

#Musk’s recent political ops have shown some of those hallmarks. Multiple contractors working w/AmericaPAC were suddenly fired & the group received a warning from the #DOJ last month that Musk’s daily million-dollar voter giveaway could breach #ElectionLaw.

Young said he was surprised to hear #ElonMusk describe the giveaway as random at the #Trump rally. He also acknowledged that the winners signed NDAs preventing them from speaking about the terms of the contracts.

Musk's giveaway falls in a gray area of #ElectionLaw, & legal experts are divided on whether #Musk could be violating federal laws against paying people to register to #vote.

John Summers, a lawyer for Krasner's office, said the admissions that the giveaway was not random made it not just an #illegal lottery but also a #fraud.

"If their story is true," Summers said in a closing argument, "it's one of the greatest scams of the last 50 years.

…Krasner said he would seek financial penalties against #ElonMusk & #AmericaPAC.
Musk lawyer Chris Gober said the giveaway was not a prize, but rather #compensation for people chosen to serve as spokespeople for the #PAC.

Later, Chris Young, an adviser for America PAC, testified that he selected winners out of a pool of candidates who appeared in videos for the group & allowed it to use their images after reviewing their #SocialMedia & meeting them outside event venues.

The reps of #ElonMusk's #AmericaPAC were trying to persuade Angelo Foglietta, a #Pennsylvania state judge, that the giveaway was not an "illegal lottery" as Philadelphia DA Lawrence Krasner alleged in a lawsuit seeking to block the contest ahead of Tue's #election.

At the end of the hearing, Foglietta said he would issue a ruling shortly. The decision will not impact the future of the contest…. The PAC says its 2 remaining winners will be from Arizona & Michigan….

#ElonMusk has been giving $1M checks to randomly selected people who sign a petition pledging support for #FreeSpeech [#HateSpeech & #disinformation] #GunRights.

The offer is limited to registered voters in 1 of 7 states that will likely decide the outcome of the Nov 5 #election - Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania & Wisconsin.

The #billionaire entrepreneur, who is spending heavily to back #Trump, had been ordered to attend the hearing but did not appear.

Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner is seeking to halt the giveaway less than a week before the tightly contested presidential #election between Trump & Democrat #KamalaHarris.

Krasner accuses Tesla #ElonMusk & his PAC hatching an "illegal lottery scheme to #influence voters."

The resignations ushered in new leadership, including Schierkolk, an *activist* with the local affiliate of the #RightWing group Stand Up #Michigan, which also works with a broader network of #ElectionDenial activists.

#law #ElectionLaw #criminal #conspiracy #disinformation #MediaLiteracy #Vote #VoteBlue #HarrisWalz2024
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/28/us/politics/inside-the-movement-behind-trumps-election-lies.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

In her resignation letter, Strand wrote of a peaceful town disrupted because “some individuals believe that it is OK to treat #CommunityService members with #disrespect, #slander, #libel, #stalking & many other forms of #harassment towards people who are just trying to make a difference for the good of the community we live in.”

Schierkolk is tied to a network of *#activists* [#criminals] who have pushed several baseless #ConspiracyTheories about corruption in elections &, at times, advocated the hand-counting of ballots, apparently believing that electronic voting machines are insecure. #Trump & his allies spread the idea widely after his defeat in 2020, claiming, falsely, that the machines had changed the votes to #Biden.

The #US govt has regularly dispatched hundreds of monitors to voting locations…, aiming to protect ballot access, discourage improper #partisan #influence & act as a moderating force on political campaigns.

While the #DOJ has the #legal right to request access to polling sites, inflamed partisanship & ideological #extremism has contributed to greater resistance to such activities in some #GOP-controlled states….

#law #ElectionLaw #Election2024 #Republican #illiberalism #Vote #HarrisWalz2024

US Dist Judge Patricia Tolliver Giles rejected arguments from attys for Gov #Youngkin (R), who had signed an executive order Aug 7 to expedite the removal of #RegisteredVoters who checked a box on their driver’s license applications indicating they were not US citizens. FULLY QUALIFIED VOTERS who simply skipped or overlooked the question have been caught up in the purge, as have those who became #citizens years after their first interaction w/ the DMV.

To better understand what this could mean for the country & for #democracy in the months to come, I traveled to 4 battleground states & interviewed dozens of #election officials, activists, lawyers & ordinary citizens, read through hundreds of pages of court transcripts & sat in on many hours of local meetings like the one in Washoe.

“I don’t have time to figure out if this is right or this is wrong,” Andriola remembers thinking at the time. Maybe it was best to “let it go to people who have the authority, jurisdiction & time to do it right.”

And so she voted no. As far as anyone could determine, it was the first time since #Nevada became a state in 1864 that a county there had refused to #certify an #election.

Was Edwards saying that she did have an obligation to consider the evidence before her? Maybe this was different because it was a recount? She had questions. What would happen next if the motion didn’t carry?
Edwards gave a wry laugh. He had done some asking around, he said, but “it’s a little bit of uncharted water.” Probably the matter would end up in front of the secretary of state or a judge.
#law #ElectionLaw #ElectionInterference #BigLie #MediaLiteracy #Propaganda #VoteBlue #HarrisWalz2024

The board had a duty to review the information, but its members also had a duty to decide what the *true* results of the #election were. He underlined this *interpretation* emphatically. “You don’t have to vote yes on that, you don’t have to vote no,” he said. “You vote your conscience.”

Now Andriola was uncertain. This didn’t seem right.
#law #ElectionLaw #VotingRights #VoterSuppression #ElectionInterference #ElectionSubversion #BigLie #MediaLiteracy #Propaganda #MAGA #VoteBlue #HarrisWalz2024