Election officials in Colorado and Washington issued warnings after Elon Musk’s America PAC sent text messages claiming voters' ballot requests were received, despite Colorado automatically mailing ballots to registered voters. Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold called the texts misleading, while Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs cautioned against using the PAC's VoteSafe.org site. The PAC has spent nearly $40 million on 2026 midterms.
Misleading text messages in Colorado
- ▪All active registered voters in Colorado automatically receive mail-in ballots without needing to submit a ballot request.
- ▪Text messages sent by Elon Musk's America PAC to voters in Colorado's Weld and Adams counties stated 'Your ballot request is in' and urged recipients to confirm return details.
Response from Colorado election officials
- ▪Weld County Election Chief Carly Koppes held clarifying conversations with confused voters to reassure them that unauthorized ballot requests had not been submitted in their names.
- ▪Adams County Election Chief Josh Zygielbaum received approximately a dozen voter calls regarding text messages sent by Elon Musk's America PAC.
- ▪Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold called America PAC's text messaging misleading and urged voters to obtain election information directly from state and county election officials.
Dispute over VoteSafe in Washington
- ▪In a post on X, Elon Musk's America PAC claimed Washington state officials were trying to suppress voter registration by criticizing the PAC's voter outreach activities.
- ▪Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs warned voters against relying on VoteSafe.org, promoted by Elon Musk's America PAC, urging personal data provision only to official state and local election offices performing actual voter registration.
- ▪Elon Musk's America PAC directs users through digital advertisements to VoteSafe.org, a site collecting user contact information that disclaims its voting information may not be accurate.
Republican strategist's Defense of America PAC
- ▪Republican digital strategist Eric Wilson stated that state election officials should be embarrassed that political campaigners had to create a better process for informing voters.
- ▪Republican digital strategist Eric Wilson described America PAC's digital outreach tools as standard get-out-the-vote tactics that provide useful reminders about ballot deadlines.
America PAC spending in 2026 midterms
- ▪Elon Musk's America PAC reported spending over $228,000 to support Republican Representative Gabe Evans in Colorado's 8th Congressional District race against Democrat Manny Rutinel.
- ▪For every dollar Elon Musk's America PAC spent supporting a Republican candidate in the 2026 midterms, it directed more than two dollars toward opposing a Democratic candidate.
- ▪Elon Musk's America PAC spent approximately $9 million opposing Democratic candidate James Talarico in the Texas Senate race, compared to around $1 million promoting Republican Ken Paxton.
- ▪Federal Election Commission filings as of October 9, 2026 showed Elon Musk's America PAC reported nearly $40 million in independent expenditures for 2026 midterms, including over $31 million in Senate races.
Elon Musk's political donations
- ▪During the 2026 midterm cycle, Elon Musk disclosed donating approximately $50 million to America PAC and $40 million to other Republican-aligned super PACs.
- ▪Elon Musk donated $5 million in May 2026 to a super PAC supporting Republican Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign for governor of Ohio.
- ▪Elon Musk spent nearly $300 million during the 2024 federal election cycle to support Donald Trump and Republican candidates, including over $260 million through America PAC.
Debatable claims
- ▪Super PACs bear primary responsibility for verifying the accuracy of their voter messaging
- ▪State election officials should advise voters against using third-party tools like VoteSafe.org
- ▪America PAC's automated text campaign causes unacceptable voter confusion
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