Elon Musk has attacked voting by mail as an “insane” concept that encourages election fraud, however he voted by mail twice when he lived in California, based on information of his voting historical past obtained by NBC Information.
Musk voted by mail in November 2016, the 12 months Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, and within the November 2018 midterm election, the information present. Musk’s main residence was in Los Angeles on the time.
The state information present that Musk had a sparse historical past of voting in California. In the course of the 18 years he was eligible to vote there, he forged ballots in solely these two elections. He turned eligible to vote when he turned a U.S. citizen in 2002 and forged his first poll 14 years later, at age 45. He was actively registered to vote by August 2006, the information present.
Among the many elections Musk skipped had been presidential races through which Barack Obama, John McCain and Mitt Romney had been on the poll, all main elections and all native elections. California has an open main system through which all registered voters are allowed to take part.
That is the primary time Musk’s California voting information have been made public. NBC Information obtained the historical past by means of a public information request to the California secretary of state’s workplace. The workplace initially declined the request for Musk’s voter file, saying it would not present information for canceled registrations. It later reversed the choice.
Musk canceled his registration within the state in August 2020, based on his voter file. He introduced at a convention in December 2020 that he had moved to Texas.
NBC Information sought remark from Musk about his voting historical past and his previous statements about mail-in ballots. In an electronic mail, he did not handle his votes however stood by his view about voter fraud.
“Voting by mail has been acknowledged as an invite to fraud all through the world,” he wrote.
Musk has criticized voting by mail no less than 4 instances this 12 months on his social media app, X, mixing his criticisms with falsehoods and partial truths about U.S. elections — a part of a broader sample of his posting deceptive or false claims about election safety.
In January, he wrote: “Within the USA, you do not want authorities issued ID to vote and you’ll mail in your poll. That is insane.”
However that is deceptive. The usual voter registration kind asks candidates for ID numbers, and whereas the precise necessities differ by state, they often require a driver’s license quantity, a state identification quantity or a Social Safety quantity. And a few states, comparable to Texas, ask for a similar info once more when folks vote by mail. California requires some first-time voters to mail copies of their IDs with their ballots.
In Could, Musk falsely asserted that widespread voting by mail was “not allowed” earlier than the Covid-19 pandemic: “Widespread voting by mail (not allowed earlier than the scamdemic) makes proving fraud nearly inconceivable.”
Voting by mail was the selection of a majority of California voters each instances Musk voted. Within the November 2018 election, 65% of California ballots had been forged by mail, based on state information. Within the November 2016 election, the determine was 58%.
California now has common voting by mail, with all registered voters receiving ballots upfront that they’ll mail again or ship by hand.
The California secretary of state’s workplace declined to touch upon Musk’s criticism, but it surely did present details about how the state tries to make sure the system’s integrity. It mentioned that when folks register, it checks ID numbers towards what’s on file and that when folks vote by mail, it examines their signatures. State legislation requires voters to attest below penalty of perjury that they are eligible to vote. The workplace additionally mentioned it captures the IP addresses used for all on-line voter registrations in case somebody tries to register a number of names from the identical gadget, amongst different safety measures.
Quite a few investigations and research have documented that there is no proof of widespread voter fraud within the U.S., and examples of fraud involving mail-in or absentee ballots are exceedingly uncommon. After they do happen, prosecutors have efficiently introduced circumstances towards perpetrators, together with in a extremely publicized fraud scheme in North Carolina, regardless of Musk’s declare that voting by mail makes proving fraud nearly inconceivable.
Musk’s personal Tremendous PAC, America PAC, has been encouraging some swing state voters to absentee vote with ballots that may be submitted by mail. NBC Information obtained a mailer from America PAC that was distributed in Wisconsin that included a QR code linking to America PAC’s web site, with accompanying textual content studying “SCAN HERE TO APPLY FOR YOUR ABSENTEE BALLOT.” In Wisconsin, voters can forged absentee ballots by mailing them in, by bringing them to a county clerk’s workplace or by bringing them to a polling place.
After he moved to Texas, Musk voted by absentee poll in 2020, the Every day Beast has reported. It isn’t clear whether or not he mailed the absentee poll. The web site additionally reported that Musk voted in an election in Texas in June 2022 however skipped the November 2022 election.
Musk is registered to vote in Brownsville, Texas, the place his firm SpaceX has operations, although as of December he lived in Austin, based on a report from Enterprise Insider, citing courtroom information.
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is commonly ranked because the wealthiest particular person on the earth.
Musk is not the one one to each criticize voting by mail and use it. Trump has finished the identical, together with voting by mail in 2020 in Florida. Musk has endorsed Trump’s bid to return to the White Home over Vice President Kamala Harris.
Voting by mail was for years related to Democrats as a part of their get-out-the-vote efforts. However this 12 months some Republicans are embracing it as a method to enhance turnout on their aspect.
Musk wrote on X this 12 months, “I voted 100% Dem till a number of years in the past.” The contents of ballots are secret, and the state information do not present whom Musk voted for.
He has mentioned he voted for Clinton in 2016 and President Joe Biden in 2020.
Musk was registered in California as having no get together desire, constant along with his describing himself as an impartial.
