Wisconsin panel finds Elon Musk’s $1m state supreme court voter giveaway was likely illegal

Musk distributed the money before the vote, which he claimed was critical to Donald Trump’s agenda and “the future of civilization”.

The move has turned into bribery complaints. The Wisconsin elections commission, consisting of three Democrats and three Republicans, voted 5-1 last week to send two complaints against the tech billionaire to the Brown county district attorney.

Commission spokesperson Emilee Miklas told the Associated Press that the panel found probable cause that the cash handouts to voters broke the state’s election bribery laws.

The complaints, which are confidential under state law, were brought by voters in Milwaukee and Green Bay, which is in Brown county.

According to Wisconsin law, anyone who “offers, gives, lends or promises to give or lend, or endeavors to procure, anything of value, or any office or employment or any privilege or immunity to, or for, any elector, or to or for any other person, in order to induce any elector”, is breaking the law.

Three voters in Wisconsin received checks from Musk, including two who got them in person at the Green Bay rally. Wisconsin’s Democratic attorney general tried to stop Musk from handing over the checks to voters, but a unanimous state supreme court refused to hear the attempt that came minutes before the rally.

Last year, Musk and supporting groups spent over $20m to support conservative candidate Brad Schimel in Wisconsin’s race, which he lost by 10 percentage points to Democratic-backed candidate Susan Crawford. A political action committee founded by Musk, the America Pac, offered $100 to voters who signed a petition in opposition to “activist judges”, or referred someone to sign it.

Musk used a similar tactic in the run-up to the 2024 presidential elections, using the Super Pac to offer $1m every day to voters in several battleground states who signed a petition supporting the first and second amendments.