The Department of Justice has warned Elon Musk’s Donald Trump-supporting political action committee that a $1 million sweepstakes could be illegal.
A letter from the Justice Department’s election crimes chief in its public integrity bureau reminded America PAC that offering anything of value to influence how someone casts their ballot would violate federal law.
The letter, first reported by 24sight and CNN, follows alarm from election law experts and civil rights groups alleging that Musk’s scheme is either an illegal vote-buying stunt or an ethically dubious infusion of the billionaire’s cash into a Trump-boosting campaign.
The Independent has requested comment from America PAC and the Justice Department.
Every day until Election Day, Musk plans to randomly hand out $1 million checks to people who signed a petition on his PAC’s website to pledge their support for the First and Second Amendments. The PAC’s goal is to get 1 million voters in seven swing states “to sign in support of the Constitution, especially freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.”
The sweepstakes, however, are only open to registered voters in those swing states.
All of the first four winners of the sweepstakes have already voted in November’s elections, according to public records from secretary of state’s offices reviewed by The Independent.
The winners, all registered Republican voters, had already returned their mail-in ballots earlier this month before Musk handed them novelty-sized checks for $1 million.
The first three winners are from Pennsylvania. A fourth winner announced on Tuesday is from North Carolina.
UCLA School of Law professor and Safeguarding Democracy Project director Rich Hasen argued in a viral post on his website that Musk’s stunt is “clearly illegal.”
“What essentially he’s doing is setting up a lottery, and the only people who can participate are registered to vote. So it’s either creating an incentive … or a reward,” Hasen told MSNBC this week.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro called the scheme “deeply concerning” and suggested law enforcement could be looking into it. A group of former Republican officials and prosecutors also called on the Justice Department to investigate this week.
Under federal law, it is illegal to pay, offer to pay, or accept payment for registering to vote or voting. Election law experts have argued that Musk’s scheme may have created a roundabout illegal incentive to get people to register to vote by allowing only registered voters to be eligible for his prize money.
But it’s unclear what that could mean if the winners are all previously registered voters who cast their ballots before the prize money was even announced.
In either case, Musk’s stunt is “just the latest — and most egregious — example of wealthy special interests distorting our political process at the expense of everyday voters,” Adav Noti, executive director of Campaign Legal Center, told The Independent this week.
