Bid to stop Elon Musk million-dollar handover to voters reaches Supreme Court
The attorney general claims the offer violates a state law prohibiting giving anything of value in exchange for a vote.
Wisconsin’s attorney general has asked the liberal-controlled state Supreme Court to stop billionaire Elon Musk from handing over cheques for one million dollars (£772,000) to two voters, an appeal that came hours before President Donald Trump’s ally planned the giveaway at an evening rally.
Two lower courts on Saturday rejected the legal challenge by Democrat Josh Kaul, who argued Mr Musk’s offer violates a state law prohibiting giving anything of value in exchange for a vote.
Wisconsin’s tightly contested Supreme Court election, where ideological control of the court is at stake, is on Tuesday. Liberals currently hold a 4-3 majority.
At Mr Musk’s scheduled rally in Green Bay, he promised to hand over the cheques to voters who signed an online petition against “activist” judges.
Mr Trump and Mr Musk are backing Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel in the Supreme Court race while Democrats are behind Dane County Judge Susan Crawford.
Mr Trump and groups he supports have spent more than 20 million dollars (£15 million) to help Mr Schimel get elected.
The justices who are being asked to decide the matter include the liberal incumbent whose retirement this year set up the race for an open seat and control of the court.
The contest has shattered national spending records for a judicial election, with more than 81 million dollars (£62 million) in spending.
Mr Musk’s political action committee used a nearly identical tactic before the presidential election last year, offering to pay one million dollars a day to voters in Wisconsin and six other battleground states who signed a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments.
A judge in Pennsylvania said prosecutors failed to show the effort was an illegal lottery and allowed it to continue through election day.
The judicial election comes as Wisconsin’s highest court is expected to rule on abortion rights, congressional redistricting, union power and voting rules that could affect the 2026 midterms and the 2028 presidential election in the state.
