Fill in the form, and the registration page never comes. That, in short, is what critics say happens on a sign-up tool tied to America PAC, the super PAC connected to Elon Musk, according to a CNBC report in early August 2024.
The committee is working to elect Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, and is also gathering voter information in battleground states. CNBC reported that users who click through are not sent to their state’s voter registration page. They land on a detailed personal form asking for an address, cell phone number and age. Even after submitting all of it, the report said, the system still does not steer them to registration. It shows a “thank you” page.
The reaction
One X user tried the process and posted screenshots. “How is this legal!?” asked Veni Kunche of Diversify Tech. “America PAC is misleading voters.”
Don Moynihan, a Georgetown University professor, raised the legal question directly. “Getting people’s personal information on the promise of helping them to register to vote, and then not helping them to register to vote definitely seems like election fraud,” he said. Jodi Jacobson, founder and executive director of Healthcare Across Borders, called on the Justice Department to investigate. Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a professor at Stetson University College of Law and a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, offered a practical fix: search for your local board of elections and register directly through it.
A spokesperson for America PAC declined to comment, and Musk did not reply to CNBC’s emails.
A PAC with few limits
Musk confirmed he had created the group in a July 22 video interview on X with commentator Jordan Peterson. He denied a Wall Street Journal report that he was putting $45 million a month toward returning Trump to the White House. “I am making some donations to America PAC, but at a much lower level,” he wrote on X the next day.
Super PACs face fewer legal restrictions than campaigns. They can raise and spend unlimited sums from individuals, corporations and groups, and under a Federal Election Commission advisory opinion from earlier in the year they can coordinate with campaigns on canvassing. America PAC had already raised millions of dollars, with donations from venture capitalists and cryptocurrency investors. The New York Times reported that it was off to “a rocky start” and shaking up its field operation.
