Elon Musk has attacked voting by mail as an “insane” idea that encourages election fraud, but he voted by mail twice when he lived in California, according to records of his voting history obtained by NBC News.
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.
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This is the first time Musk’s California voting records have been made public. NBC News obtained the history through a public records request to the California secretary of state’s office. The office initially declined the request for Musk’s voter file, saying it doesn’t provide records for canceled registrations. It later reversed the decision.
Musk canceled his registration in the state in August 2020, according to his voter file. He announced at a conference in December 2020 that he had moved to Texas.
NBC News sought comment from Musk about his voting history and his past statements about mail-in ballots. In an email, he didn’t address his votes but stood by his view about voter fraud.
“Voting by mail has been recognized as an invitation to fraud throughout the world,” he wrote.
Musk has criticized voting by mail at least four times this year on his social media app, X, mixing his criticisms with falsehoods and partial truths about U.S. elections — part of a broader pattern of his posting misleading or false claims about election security.
In January, he wrote: “In the USA, you don’t need government issued ID to vote and you can mail in your ballot. This is insane.”
But that’s misleading. The standard voter registration form asks applicants for ID numbers, and while the specific requirements vary by state, they generally require a driver’s license number, a state identification number or a Social Security number. And some states, such as Texas, ask for the same information again when people vote by mail. California requires some first-time voters to mail copies of their IDs with their ballots.
In May, Musk falsely asserted that widespread voting by mail was “not allowed” before the Covid-19 pandemic: “Widespread voting by mail (not allowed before the scamdemic) makes proving fraud almost impossible.”
Voting by mail was the choice of a majority of California voters both times Musk voted. In the November 2018 election, 65% of California ballots were cast by mail, according to state records. In the November 2016 election, the figure was 58%.
California now has universal voting by mail, with all registered voters receiving ballots in advance that they can mail back or deliver by hand.
The California secretary of state’s office declined to comment on Musk’s criticism, but it did provide information about how the state tries to ensure the system’s integrity. It said that when people register, it checks ID numbers against what’s on file and that when people vote by mail, it examines their signatures. State law requires voters to attest under penalty of perjury that they’re eligible to vote. The office also said it captures the IP addresses used for all online voter registrations in case someone tries to register multiple names from the same device, among other security measures.
Numerous investigations and studies have documented that there’s no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the U.S., and examples of fraud involving mail-in or absentee ballots are exceedingly rare. When they do occur, prosecutors have successfully brought cases against perpetrators, including in a highly publicized fraud scheme in North Carolina, despite Musk’s claim that voting by mail makes proving fraud almost impossible.
Musk's own Super PAC, America PAC, has been encouraging some swing state voters to absentee vote with ballots that can be submitted by mail. NBC News obtained a mailer from America PAC that was distributed in Wisconsin that included a QR code linking to America PAC's website, with accompanying text reading "SCAN HERE TO APPLY FOR YOUR ABSENTEE BALLOT." In Wisconsin, voters can cast absentee ballots by mailing them in, by bringing them to a county clerk's office or by bringing them to a polling place.
After he moved to Texas, Musk voted by absentee ballot in 2020, the Daily Beast has reported. It’s not clear whether he mailed the absentee ballot. The website also reported that Musk voted in an election in Texas in June 2022 but skipped the November 2022 election.
Musk is registered to vote in Brownsville, Texas, where his company SpaceX has operations, though as of December he lived in Austin, according to a report from Business Insider, citing court records.
Musk, the CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, is often ranked as the wealthiest person in the world.
Musk isn’t the only one to both criticize voting by mail and use it. Trump has done the same, including voting by mail in 2020 in Florida. Musk has endorsed Trump’s bid to return to the White House over Vice President Kamala Harris.
Voting by mail was for years associated with Democrats as part of their get-out-the-vote efforts. But this year some Republicans are embracing it as a way to boost turnout on their side.
Musk wrote on X this year, “I voted 100% Dem until a few years ago.” The contents of ballots are secret, and the state records don’t show whom Musk voted for.
He has said he voted for Clinton in 2016 and President Joe Biden in 2020.
Musk was registered in California as having no party preference, consistent with his describing himself as an independent.
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