Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC under investigation in NC over handling of voter data
A political action committee created by billionaire tech CEO Elon Musk has drawn the attention of the North Carolina attorney general’s office and the State Board of Elections following a complaint about its collection of personal data.
The complaint, filed by political activist and former candidate for state insurance commissioner David Wheeler, alleges that Musk’s America PAC “is pretending to be running an online voter registration drive. However, they are simply collecting data on voters and are fraudulently collecting and retaining confidential voter information.”
Pat Gannon, a spokesperson for the State Board of Elections, confirmed on Tuesday that that the board has opened an investigation into the allegations.
“North Carolina law makes it a crime for someone to fail to submit a voter’s registration form if that person has told a voter that they would be submitting the voter’s registration form,” Gannon told The News & Observer.
A spokesperson for Attorney General Josh Stein, a Democrat who is running for governor, said Tuesday that his office is looking into the Super PAC as well, though it has not opened its own formal investigation.
This comes after reporting from CNBC found that America PAC’s website asked for personal information from visitors and promised to help them register to vote, but failed to do so in some states.
According to CNBC, site visitors in states where the presidential election is not expected to be competitive were quickly directed to their state’s voter registration page. But voters in battleground states, like North Carolina, were prompted to give further personal information and, after submitting it, were not taken to a voter registration page.
Visiting a voter registration link on Tuesday from one of the PAC’s tweets brought the user to a website with the following pop-up message:
“It was brought to our attention on August 2 that some people may have been unable to complete the registration process on this website on August 1 and 2. If you had any difficulty, please try to complete the registration process again or email info@theamericapac.org for assistance.”
Per state law, voters can only register online through the DMV website, not a private website.
America PAC, which Musk said he created, is supporting former President Donald Trump against Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024.
The PAC did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.
According to FEC filings, the group had raised nearly $9 million by the end of June. Super PACs can accept unlimited donations from corporations and individuals, but cannot work directly with candidates.
Musk, who is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX as well as the owner of X, initially said he would give around $45 million a month to Trump’s campaign, according to The Wall Street Journal. Musk later called this report “ridiculous” on X and said he was making “some donations” to the PAC but at a “much lower level.”
The secretary of state in Michigan has also opened an investigation into the PAC, with a spokesperson for her office telling CNBC, “Every citizen should know exactly how their personal information is being used by PACs, especially if an entity is claiming it will help people register to vote in Michigan or any other state.”
