Elon Musk’s PAC is spreading inaccurate voting information, election officials say

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The texts from Elon Musk’s super PAC arrived last week, all with the same message to a group of Colorado voters: “Your ballot request is in,” they read. “Confirm now where and when to return it.”

But every active registered voter in Colorado automatically receives a mail ballot, and the message from Musk’s America PAC set off a flurry of calls and emails from confused residents to county offices.

“People were like, ‘Wait a second. I didn’t submit that request. Is something fishy going on? Did someone submit something on my behalf?’” said Carly Koppes, a Republican who is the election chief in Weld County, north of Denver.

Election officials in Colorado and Washington state have issued public warnings about inaccurate information from the group tied to Musk, the billionaire who is spending heavily to sway the midterm elections in Republicans’ favor.

Third-party groups long have engaged in voter-registration drives and other outreach to voters ahead of elections, sometimes relying on out-of-date commercially available information. But the PAC’s tactics have drawn particular scrutiny, given its heavy spending and unorthodox activity in previous elections — including controversial $1 million giveaways to encourage turnout.

A spokesman for America PAC did not respond to questions about the Colorado messages. In a post on X, the super PAC argued that Washington state officials were trying to “suppress” voter registration in criticizing the PAC’s activity.

Musk, the world’s richest man, was the largest publicly disclosed donor of the 2024 federal election, spending nearly $300 million to elect President Donald Trump and Republicans in that cycle. And he’s once again plowing big money into politics, this time with the goal of helping the GOP retain control of Congress during the last two years of Trump’s presidency.

As of Friday morning, America PAC had reported spending nearly $40 million on independent expenditures to influence Senate and House contests, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission.

The lion’s share of the spending, more than $31 million, has gone to shape Senate races, led by Texas, home to many of Musk’s businesses and the site of a fierce contest between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico.

So far in this cycle, Musk has disclosed donating about $50 million to America PAC and another $40 million to other Republican-aligned super PACs, along with smaller, direct donations to congressional candidates.

Not all of the money has benefited federal candidates. The total includes $5 million that Musk donated in May to a super PAC aiding Republican Vivek Ramaswamy’s bid for Ohio governor. The two men helped create the federal Department of Government Efficiency that Musk briefly led at the start of Trump’s second term.

Mark Schiefelbein/AP

More details on Musk’s personal investments will be disclosed later this month when America PAC files a report covering the July-to-September quarter with federal regulators.

In the midterms, Musk’s team is focused on ground-level mobilization, with millions of dollars going to digital ads, phone messaging and printing expenses, federal records show.

America PAC’s digital advertising on platforms such as Facebook often starts with a provocative message attacking Democrats and aimed at encouraging Republicans to get to the polls. One focused on Texas shows a bearded man applying heavy makeup. “Don’t stay home while the crazy liberals elect radicals,” the ad says.

The ads direct users to check their voter registration status via VoteSafe.org . Once there, they are asked to supply personal information, including their cell phone numbers and email addresses, an avenue for the group to contact them through Election Day.

“By providing your telephone number and email, you consent to receive emails, calls and text messages from America PAC,” a disclosure reads. Additionally, the site warns that “the information about voting and registering to vote on this website is sourced from third parties and may not necessarily be accurate.”

Eric Wilson, a Republican digital strategist who runs the Center for Campaign Innovation, called the PAC’s activity “pretty standard get-out-the-vote tactics.”

And he said Musk’s political operation has added innovations through VoteSafe.org that state election officials could learn from, including an “America Pass” that voters can add to their Google or Apple wallets, keeping information about ballot deadlines and early voting windows close at hand.

“One of the jobs of campaigns in this country is to turn voters out,” Wilson said. “State election officials ought to be embarrassed that PACs and political campaigners have had to create a better process for informing and reminding voters about casting their ballots.”

Still, in Washington state, Secretary of State Steve Hobbs, a Democrat, has made a point of urging voters to steer clear of VoteSafe.org.

“Instead of relying on a website that itself warns its voting information may not be accurate, get accurate and timely information directly from your state and local election offices,” said a statement from Hobbs’ office. “That way you know that you’re giving your address, contact information, and personal data to actual election officials, not a third party that can’t actually register you to vote.”

In Colorado, Democratic Secretary of State Jena Griswold also has called on voters to rely on her office and county clerks “for accurate, trusted information” about the election after people who live north of Denver received text messages from America PAC.

She called the super PAC’s messaging “misleading.”

Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post/Getty Images

The texts in question targeted voters in both Weld and Adams counties, local officials said. Freshman GOP Rep. Gabe Evans faces Democrat and former state lawmaker Manny Rutinel there in a race that independent political handicappers rate as a tossup .

America PAC has reported spending more than $228,000 on the race to benefit Evans.

Adams County’s election chief Josh Zygielbaum, a Democrat, said he received about a dozen calls from voters with questions about the texts. Although it’s hard for him to tell how many voters received the message, “that volume of phone calls is usually a good indicator for us that something’s a bigger issue because people generally don’t pick up the phone these days unless there’s a bigger concern,” he said.

Koppes, the top election official in neighboring Weld county, said she’s “had to have some clarifying conversations” with voters to allay their worries.

“It’s a typical, normal thing during the election that third-party groups try to get out the vote,” Koppes said she’s explained to voters. “But we don’t control them or whether they use the correct verbiage.”

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上周，埃隆·马斯克的超级政治行动委员会向一群科罗拉多州选民发送了短信，内容都一样：“您的选票申请已提交，”短信写道。“请确认投票地点和时间。”

但科罗拉多州的每一位活跃注册选民都会自动收到邮寄选票，而马斯克的美国政治行动委员会发布的这条消息引发了困惑的居民向县政府办公室打来的大量电话和发来的电子邮件。

“人们会说，‘等等，我没有提交过这个申请。是不是有什么猫腻？是不是有人冒用我的名义提交了申请？’”卡莉·科佩斯说道，她是丹佛北部韦尔德县的选举负责人，也是一名共和党人。

科罗拉多州和华盛顿州的选举官员已公开警告，与亿万富翁马斯克有关联的团体散布不实信息。马斯克正在斥巨资试图影响中期选举，使共和党获胜。

第三方团体长期以来一直参与选民登记活动和其他选举前的选民宣传工作，有时依赖于过时的商业信息。但鉴于该政治行动委员会（PAC）在以往选举中投入巨资且行事作风非同寻常——包括曾因向选民发放100万美元的赠品以鼓励投票而备受争议——其策略尤其受到关注。

美国政治行动委员会（America PAC）发言人未回应有关科罗拉多州信息的质询。该超级政治行动委员会在X网站上发帖称，华盛顿州官员批评该委员会的活动，意在“压制”选民登记。

世界首富马斯克是2024年联邦选举中公开披露的最大捐款人，他在该轮选举中花费了近3亿美元，用于支持唐纳德·特朗普总统和共和党候选人。如今，他再次向政坛投入巨资，这次的目标是帮助共和党在特朗普总统任期的最后两年里保住国会的控制权。

根据向联邦选举委员会提交的文件显示，截至周五上午，美国政治行动委员会（America PAC）已报告花费近 4000 万美元用于独立支出，以影响参议院和众议院的选举。

超过 3100 万美元的巨额支出用于影响参议院竞选，其中以德克萨斯州最为突出。德克萨斯州是马斯克众多企业的所在地，也是共和党人肯·帕克斯顿和民主党人詹姆斯·塔拉里科激烈竞争的战场。

到目前为止，在本轮选举周期中，马斯克已披露向美国政治行动委员会（America PAC）捐赠了约 5000 万美元，向其他与共和党结盟的超级政治行动委员会捐赠了 4000 万美元，此外还向国会候选人进行了较小的直接捐款。

并非所有资金都用于支持联邦候选人。总额中包括马斯克5月份捐赠给一个超级政治行动委员会的500万美元，该委员会旨在支持共和党人维韦克·拉马斯瓦米竞选俄亥俄州州长。两人曾共同创建联邦政府效率部，马斯克在特朗普第二任期初期曾短暂担任该部门负责人。

马克·谢费尔贝因/美联社

本月晚些时候，美国政治行动委员会（America PAC）将向联邦监管机构提交一份涵盖 7 月至 9 月季度的报告，届时将披露有关马斯克个人投资的更多细节。

联邦记录显示，在中期选举中，马斯克的团队专注于基层动员，数百万美元用于数字广告、电话短信和印刷费用。

美国政治行动委员会（America PAC）在Facebook等平台上投放的数字广告通常以煽动性信息开场，攻击民主党人，旨在鼓励共和党人积极投票。其中一则针对德克萨斯州的广告中，一位蓄着胡须的男子正在化浓妆。广告语写道：“别待在家里，眼睁睁看着那些疯狂的自由派选出激进分子。”

这些广告引导用户通过 VoteSafe.org 查询他们的选民登记状态。进入该网站后，用户会被要求提供个人信息，包括手机号码和电子邮件地址，以便该组织在选举日当天与他们联系。

“提供您的电话号码和电子邮件地址，即表示您同意接收来自美国政治行动委员会（America PAC）的电子邮件、电话和短信，”声明中写道。此外，该网站还警告说，“本网站上有关投票和选民登记的信息来源于第三方，可能并不完全准确。”

共和党数字战略家、竞选创新中心负责人埃里克·威尔逊称该政治行动委员会的活动是“相当标准的拉票策略”。

他还表示，马斯克的政治运作通过 VoteSafe.org 增加了一些创新，各州选举官员可以从中学习，其中包括选民可以添加到 Google 或 Apple 钱包中的“美国通行证”，以便随时获取有关选票截止日期和提前投票时间的信息。

威尔逊说：“在这个国家，竞选活动的任务之一就是动员选民投票。各州选举官员应该感到羞愧，因为政治行动委员会和政治竞选人员不得不制定更好的流程来告知和提醒选民投票。”

不过，在华盛顿州，民主党籍州务卿史蒂夫·霍布斯却特意敦促选民远离 VoteSafe.org 网站。

霍布斯办公室在一份声明中表示：“与其依赖一个自己都警告其投票信息可能不准确的网站，不如直接从您所在州和地方的选举办公室获取准确及时的信息。这样您就能确保将地址、联系方式和个人数据提供给真正的选举官员，而不是提供给实际上无法帮您登记投票的第三方。”

在科罗拉多州，民主党籍州务卿杰娜·格里斯沃尔德也呼吁选民依靠她的办公室和县书记员“获取准确、可信的选举信息”，此前丹佛北部地区的居民收到了来自美国政治行动委员会的短信。

她称该超级政治行动委员会的信息“具有误导性”。

Timothy Hurst/丹佛邮报/Getty Images

当地官员表示，涉事短信针对的是韦尔德县和亚当斯县的选民。共和党新晋众议员加布·埃文斯将在该县与民主党人、前州议员曼尼·鲁蒂内尔展开角逐，独立政治分析机构认为这场选举胜负难料。

美国政治行动委员会 (America PAC) 报告称，已花费超过 22.8 万美元用于支持埃文斯的竞选活动。

亚当斯县选举负责人、民主党人乔什·齐格尔鲍姆表示，他接到了大约十几位选民的电话，询问有关短信的问题。虽然他很难确定有多少选民收到了这条短信，但他表示：“电话数量如此之多通常表明情况比较严重，因为如今人们一般不会主动打电话，除非遇到重大问题。”

邻近的韦尔德县最高选举官员科佩斯表示，她“不得不与选民进行一些澄清对话”，以消除他们的担忧。

科佩斯说，她已经向选民解释过：“在选举期间，第三方团体试图动员选民投票是很常见的正常现象。但我们无法控制他们，也无法保证他们使用的措辞正确。”