More Pa. Dems got $100 checks that may be from Elon Musk’s PAC. Some aren’t cashing them in protest.

More Pennsylvanians say they have received mysterious $100 checks that appear to be from Elon Musk’s America PAC, which helped power the ground game for President-elect Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.

In the following days since The Inquirer’s first story about two Pennsylvanians receiving an unsolicited and unexplained $100 check, eight more Pennsylvanians told The Inquirer they, too, had received the money without having signed the super PAC’s First and Second Amendment petition, which was denoted as a necessary step for Pennsylvania’s registered voters to cash in on the “special offer.”

Recipients of the checks reside across the state, ranging from Philadelphia to Luzerne, York and Northumberland counties, for example. Images provided to The Inquirer show the checks are adorned with one of several dates: Oct. 29, Nov. 1, Nov. 2. or Nov. 4. Some recipients said they received the money in the mail the day before Election Day, while others received it the days after.

The checks also include an address from “United States of America Inc.,” which is the name of a holding company Musk established in early October.

America PAC did not respond to requests for comment about the legitimacy of the checks.

Frank Tuplin, a retired lawyer from Philadelphia and a Democrat, said in addition to never signing the petition, he contributed twice to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign. He received the $100 check shortly before Election Day.

“I remember being surprised by it being so close to the election,” Tuplin said. “I had already voted by mail so didn’t understand its intent.”

Patricia Domyan, 64, a registered nurse practitioner from Allentown, was a Republican until around the 2016 election when she registered with the Democratic Party. But that didn’t prevent her from receiving a resounding five $100 checks after Election Day, two of which she received Friday.

“I received not one, not two, not three, not four, but [five] … count them … [five] $100 checks from the PAC which I did not sign nor had I heard of until the checks started rolling in,” Domyan said. “I do not plan on cashing them. There is no such thing as ‘free money.’ What a bunch of hooey!”

Domyan and most of the other Pennsylvanians who approached The Inquirer said they would never cash the check, serving as a protest to Musk’s relentless efforts to help deliver Pennsylvania for Trump, a feat he’s credited for by some Pennsylvania Republicans.

But Lesley Geyer, a self-proclaimed “lifelong Democrat” from Luzerne County, said she successfully deposited the check on Nov. 13 with the intention of donating the proceeds to the American Civil Liberties Union, which is preparing to fight Trump’s agenda in court.

America PAC said it would verify the accuracy of information of recipients of their cash prizes, but that wasn’t the case for many recipients of the check including Steve Anderson, of Northumberland County.

“Like the others, I’m a registered Democratic voter, I did NOT sign any petition, and I certainly didn’t ‘verify’ anything,” Anderson said in an email.

And now it seems the checks have traveled beyond the scope of the Democratic Party. Austin Gwiazdowski, a Democrat from Grays Ferry who received his own unwarranted check, said his aunt, a Republican who said she does not recall signing the petition, was also given the $100.

Individuals who did sign the petition are expected to receive their cash prizes by Nov. 30, according to the America PAC website.

The petition was one of several efforts spearheaded by Musk to rack up support for Trump in Pennsylvania. He held several town halls throughout the commonwealth and donated millions of dollars to the PAC. His work, which Trump often commended him for on the campaign trail, was rewarded with access to Trump’s inner circle and conversations with world leaders and a position to colead the proposed “Department of Government Efficiency.”