KEY POINTS
- The America PAC asks for detailed user information if they live in battleground states, as per CNBC
- The Michigan secretary of state's office has confirmed that it is "reviewing" the PAC's activities
- A policy professor said the PAC's alleged data collection activities indicate election fraud
A super PAC "created" by tech titan Elon Musk is now under investigation over potential violations of Michigan laws due to its collection of voter information. The America PAC is supporting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The PAC, which Musk said he "created" in a recent interview, has a website that says it will help voters to register to vote. Depending on their residence, users have different experiences, CNBC first reported Friday. Voters in non-battleground states are directed to a voter registration page for their state.
In key states such as Georgia or Pennsylvania, users are directed to a form that asks for "highly detailed personal information," as per the report. Users are asked to provide their address, phone number and age. The users are then directed to a voter registration page after they agree to submit the said information. "In the end, they got no help at all registering. But they did hand over priceless personal data to a political operation," the report noted.
On Sunday, the Michigan secretary of state's office confirmed that it has launched a probe into the PAC for possible violations over user data collection. "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," a spokeswoman office said.
"While the America PAC is a federal political action committee, the Department is reviewing their activities to determine if there have been any violations of state law. We will refer potential violations to the Michigan Attorney General's office as appropriate," a spokesperson for Jocelyn Benson, Michigan's secretary of state, also told Reuters.
CNBC's Brian Schwartz posted side-by-side photos of how the America PAC's landing page looked like before and after news of the probe broke. The website has since taken down homepage links to register to vote and request a ballot.
NEW: The day Benson's office told me they're launching a probe into the Musk backed PAC and I reached out to the PAC, is the same day the committee took down their homepage links to register to vote & request a ballot.
— Brian Schwartz (@schwartzbCNBC) August 4, 2024
1st pic: Sunday AM
2nd pic: Nowhttps://t.co/6JmnYLQOrb https://t.co/KfT54R62HZ pic.twitter.com/HRst4AnKh4
Don Moynihan, a policy professor at Georgetown University's McCourt School, said the PAC's alleged personal info collection process "definitely seems like election fraud."
Musk endorsed Trump after an attempted assassination in Pennsylvania.
