The tech billionaire voted by mail twice in California, years before he began attacking the option for others.
Musk voted by mail in November 2016, the year Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton, and in the November 2018 midterm election, the records show. Musk’s primary residence was in Los Angeles at the time.
The state records show that Musk had a sparse history of voting in California. During the 18 years he was eligible to vote there, he cast ballots in only those two elections. He became eligible to vote when he became a U.S. citizen in 2002 and cast his first ballot 14 years later, at age 45. He was actively registered to vote by August 2006, the records show.
Among the elections Musk skipped were presidential races in which Barack Obama, John McCain and Mitt Romney were on the ballot, all primary elections and all local elections. California has an open primary system in which all registered voters are allowed to participate.
A fine, patriotic American who definitely belongs in Trump's cabinet.
California has optional mail ballots for everyone. Can't imagine voting without it --- I can fill out my ballot at my leisure, researching measures when I have time. No need to remember anything or make a cheat sheet for election day. And no standing in line.
This is especially necessary in California due to the ballot proposition thing. For those unfamiliar, California lets citizens put new laws on the ballot if they collect enough signatures. So each year the ballot there can be dozens and dozens of pages as you read through each of these somewhat lengthy measures. It takes ages in the voting booth, so doing so by mail is way better.
In Washington it’s required. No polling locations except a couple headquarters locations where you can submit provisional ballots and such if there’s something last moment that comes up.
I'm glad I'm so past the point of even trying to explain the hypocrisy to people that still give assholes like this the benefit of the doubt. Remember when the Hyperloop came out and so many people insisted it was the way of the future? 🙄
Some places have been trying to get high speed rail for decades - when I was in Florida in the 90s we even had it on a ballot and the public wanted it overwhelmingly. Then the politicians came back and said it's too costly. Connecting some places would have paid off the construction multiple times and helped the state economy. I can only assume that there's people invested in building and maintaining roads that have lobbyists to keep them the "preferred" transportation option.
The whole idea was to crush public transportation, which Elon despises. He never intended to make a thing that worked, it was to take money away from something that would benefit the masses instead of the rich.
Elon also took massive subsidies for Spacex and Tesla. The only reason both companies successed. He believes it is OK for him but no one else. A very common theme for the thin skin man.
Plot twist (just for fun, I'm not trying to protect him): he actually wasn't. The votes were fake and whoever were faking them dropped the ball by using info of someone recognizable