Two voters in Pa. say they got a mysterious $100 check from Elon Musk’s PAC. Neither is Republican.
At least two Pennsylvania voters received an $100 check with the memo line containing "America PAC," the name of Elon Musk's pro-Trump super PAC.
When Austin Gwiazdowski retrieved his mail Tuesday he thought that the $100 check — attached to a paper with a return address from Austin, Texas — was fake.
“I thought it was one of those, you know, insurance or somebody trying to sell you something,” Gwiazdowski said.
But when he looked a little closer he saw the memo line on the check said “America PAC Petition,” which shares the same name as Elon Musk’s pro-Trump super PAC that had been dishing out cash prizes to Pennsylvanians and other swing state voters who signed a petition that pledged their support to the First and Second Amendments. Signers’ information could also have been used to provide contacts for pro-Trump messaging from Musk’s PAC.
The issue is, Gwiazdowski — a registered Democrat — hadn’t signed America PAC’s petition, making him ineligible to receive the PAC’s “special offer” of $100 for Pennsylvania voters ahead of Election Day.
Gwiazdowski, 30, is one of at least two Pennsylvanians who did not sign Musk’s America PAC petition yet received a check for $100 from what appears to be Musk’s America PAC. A woman from York, Pa., also said she received a check even though she never signed the document.
The Inquirer was provided a photo of the check and its envelope received by Gwiazdowski. The return address is from “United States of America Inc” in Austin, Texas. The check itself has an address from San Mateo, Calif., and is signed by a “Todd Lewis.” Lewis’ identity or any relation to America PAC is unclear.
Representatives for America PAC did not return a request for comment, and it remains unclear whether the checks are legitimate.
Gwiazdowski, a database administrator for the School District of Philadelphia, said he has no idea why he received the check — except for a Republican family member who could have signed his name and provided his mailing address, but that was unlikely, he said.
The Grays Ferry resident said he did not plan to cash the check. It would feel like “taking money from the devil, kind of, and would be consent to his actions,” Gwiazdowski said, noting that he was “pretty angry” that his name was being used without his consent.
Jeanne Fermier, an unaffiliated voter from York, said she was in a similar boat. She didn’t sign a petition and none of her friends owned up to putting her name down as a prank, she said. She also did not verify her information, as America PAC said they would do before making a payment, the York Daily Record reported. She also has no intention of cashing her check.
Yet some voters who did sign the petition are still awaiting their $100.
Mia Humphreys, 18, a Republican and student at Penn State, is one of those people. She signed the petition on Oct. 21 and is still waiting for her money even though she knows two individuals who signed the petition who received their checks.
Due to volume, America PAC said they expect all payments to be issued by Nov. 30. As of Oct. 31, the PAC had mailed 187,000 checks.
The petition was one of the many efforts Musk’s America PAC sponsored to help aid the billionaire in delivering Pennsylvania for Trump. He also held town halls throughout the commonwealth and donated millions to the PAC. The richest man in the world has gained increasing political power as a close ally of the president-elect, speaking with world leaders, becoming an honorary Trump family member, and even being rewarded with the opportunity to colead the newly established “Department of Government Efficiency,” though many details of the project remain unclear.