Why is it illegal to pay people to register to vote in the US?

[110APiccadilly]

Obviously Elon Musk is in the news because there's an accusation that he's done this. What I'm struggling to understand is why this is illegal in the US. Surely it's good if as many people as possible are registered to vote?

What am I missing here? It seems very different to the UK - we have a legal obligation to say whether there's anyone in the house eligible to be on the electoral roll, don't we?

I’m confused by your 2nd point and how it relates to paying for votes.

I think it’s to avoid bribery for power.

i would guess out of fear that one party/candidate would have more means to pay a certain demographic to register, thus skewing the results? They’re not going to pay just anyone, they’d be targeting their own supporters.

Unless I've completely misunderstood it all, Musk isn't accused of paying people to vote one way or the other, or even to vote at all, but of paying people to be registered to vote though.

Unless "registered to vote" means something different in the US?

I've never been paid to register to vote in the UK and would immediately assume it was an attempt to buy my vote if i were, so no, it's not different.

It was a blatant and particularly Musk like stunt to buy votes.

This makes sense, thank you!

You had to be in a swing state and to sign a petition supporting free speech and the right to carry a gun. It couldn't have been much more blatant.

Well because the person paying is unlikely to be entirely neutral as to which way you vote, aren't they?

It's obvious which way Elon wants people to vote.

ok I will assume this isn’t a troll question.

If one has been paid to vote then that person is buying your vote.
problematic because

1. someone who has money can buy votes, others can’t - this disrupts fairness and democracy.
2. if someone can buy a vote then there is an implicit desire for them to get your vote - when there is an imbalance of power people may feel like they have to vote for the person offering money
3. if someone needs money they can be bought more easily.
4. but if someone can be bought then they can utilise this for more money thus disrupting fairness and democracy.
5. on a simple level then it isn’t about issues, it’s about money - this disrupts fairness and democracy.
6. the upshot of the last two is people who don’t need money don’t get their votes bought, therefore this on a social level creates a disruption. An inequitable system where the stakes are only dependent on having and not having - this disrupts fairness and democracy

shall I go on?

I absolutely understand why you mustn't have a situation where someone is paid to vote a certain way. What I was unclear on is, if I've understood correctly, it's illegal to pay people to register to vote (which I'm assuming, perhaps incorrectly, is the equivalent of being on the electoral roll in the UK, i.e. there's no obligation to vote at all, let alone for one candidate). Someone else has made a good point about targeting demographics that will be more likely to vote your way though, which I hadn't thought of.

Because if it's legal to do it, it would be impossible to prevent politically biased funders from finding out who is likely to vote for their party and to selectively pay for those specific people to register, and not those who would be likely to vote the other way, therefore allowing them ro buy victory.

Even a setup where it was legal to do, so long as it was accessible to everyone, would be equally corrupt as it could be heavily advertised in the geographical areas that are more likely to swing in a particular direction.

He is only offering to pay a certain section of people to sign up to vote, it isn't open to all new voters. Voting with conditions doesn't scream open amd fair democracy

I have editted my comment out because I misread the OP.

I once asked an electoral registration officer in the UK why it is compulsory to register for a vote here, although actually voting is not compulsory. I was told that it was to stop any pressure from being put on people from any source to vote a certain way or not to vote at all or to dare to register. I think it stemmed from the early days of voting. An employer of ten people couldn't bully them into not registering to vote, because the law said they must, and when they'd finished work they could pootle off to the polling station and do what they liked.