When President Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, there were murmurs about possible election interference. But after Joe Biden’s decisive 2020 win over Trump, it was the then and current president who claimed widespread fraud — a baseless assertion that helped fuel the January 6 insurrection and led to nearly 90 criminal indictments against him.
By the time Trump faced former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, she had expressed awareness of possible schemes.
“I’m very much grounded in the present, in terms of the task at hand,” Harris said before Election Day. “And we will deal with election night and the days after as they come, and we have the resources and the expertise and the focus on that as well.”
Despite Harris’ momentum and Trump’s 34 felony convictions, he won the presidency once again.
Now, less than a year after Trump’s victory, a Wisconsin nonprofit has filed a formal legal complaint against Elon Musk and his political allies due to allegations of him working to help the president win the 2024 election.
The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, along with two voters, has accused Musk, his America PAC, and a Musk-affiliated entity called United States of America Inc. of violating state election law through what they described as a “brazen scheme to bribe Wisconsin citizens to vote.”
The complaint stems from Musk’s actions leading up to Wisconsin’s 2024 Supreme Court election. According to the plaintiffs, Musk distributed $1 million checks, and his PAC offered $100 cash payments to registered voters who signed petitions and submitted personal information.
The complaint notes that Wisconsin law prohibits offering anything of value exceeding $1 to encourage someone to vote or vote for a particular candidate. It also claims the actions violated the state’s ban on unauthorized lotteries.
According to a published report, the plaintiffs are asking a Wisconsin court to declare the conduct illegal, block Musk and his organizations from repeating such practices in the future, and award damages if appropriate.
Before the $1 million giveaway event in Wisconsin, state Attorney General Josh Kaul sued Musk and America PAC, alleging violations of laws against inducements for voting. However, attempts to stop the event through legal means were unsuccessful. A county judge declined to intervene immediately, an appeals court rejected further motions, and the state Supreme Court refused to take the case.
Musk’s team maintained that the money was for signing petitions and becoming spokespeople — not for voting. At the time, Musk was an adviser to Trump and served as head of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, dubh
“We’re trying to create … accountability in a more regular timeline, in a way that gives the courts the opportunity to look at this more carefully and in a more traditional procedure for them, and we fully expect that the courts are going to do so,” Mandell said in a published interview.
‘We Know Exactly What Happened and How It Unfolded‘
Trump’s 2024 win sparked quiet skepticism, especially after comments made by the president raised new questions about election integrity.
At an event shortly after the election, Trump credited Musk’s technological expertise for helping secure a critical swing state.
“He knows those computers better than anybody. All those computers, those vote-counting computers,” Trump said. “And we ended up winning Pennsylvania like in a landslide. So, it was pretty good, it was pretty good. So, thank you to Elon.”
The remarks drew widespread attention online.
Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett responded, “So Trump is rambling on about he and Elon rigging the election?! Am I missing something, or is he confessing to yet another damn crime?!”
Beyond Wisconsin, Musk used similar high-dollar tactics in other battleground states throughout the 2024 election.
In Pennsylvania, he promised $1 million daily in a lottery for voters who joined his PAC’s petition drive. Participants could also earn $47 for referring others to register and sign on. Though prosecutors in Pennsylvania attempted to stop the initiative, a judge ruled that they had not proven it was an illegal lottery and allowed it to proceed through Election Day.
The latest complaint in Wisconsin aims to prevent Musk and his affiliates from using these tactics in future elections. Musk has since indicated he may scale back his political spending, though he has left the door open for future involvement.
He stepped down from the Trump administration last month with a personal send-off from the president, including a symbolic key to the Oval Office. However, relations between Musk and Trump-aligned Republicans have since soured.
Musk recently called for the creation of a new political party and accused lawmakers of betraying voters by supporting Trump’s legislative priorities.
Meanwhile, new questions are emerging in places like Rockland County, New York — a Democratic stronghold where Democrats won several races handily, but Harris received nearly no votes. The anomaly has further fueled concerns about the legitimacy of Trump’s 2024 victory and the extent of interference in swing states.
“We know exactly what happened and how it unfolded, and we’re asking the court to say this is not acceptable,” Mandel stated.
