The Justice Department is warning Elon Musk that his $1 million giveaway to registered voters may be illegal

CNN
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The Justice Department warned Elon Musk’s America PAC in recent days that its $1 million lottery for registered voters in swing states may violate federal law, people briefed on the matter told CNN.

Musk, who has expressed support for former President Donald Trump and is spending millions of dollars supporting his candidacy, announced the $1 million prize through his political action committee, with the aim of increasing voter registrations in hotly contested states.

Musk’s initial promise to pay out prizes to registered voters immediately raised concerns among election law experts and some state officials who questioned whether it was against the law.

Federal law prohibits paying people to register to vote. The wording of the petition currently promises $1 million prizes to people randomly chosen to sign a petition in support of First and Second Amendment freedoms. But to sign the petition, you must be registered to vote in specific states.

A letter from the Justice Department’s public integrity division, which investigates possible election-related law violations, went to Musk’s political action committee, people briefed on the matter said.

CNN reached out to Musk, several email addresses listed on the super PAC’s website, the group’s treasurer and Musk’s press team on the X platform.

The Justice Department declined to comment.

“We want to try to get over a million, maybe two million voters in the battleground states to sign the petition in support of the First and Second Amendments,” Musk said in announcing the lottery at a Trump campaign event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania . Saturday. “We’re going to randomly award $1 million to people who sign the petition every day from now until the election.”

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After Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat and former attorney general, said Sunday that the giveaway was “very concerning” and deserved legal investigation, Musk said posted on his X platform that it was “concerned that he would say something like that.”

In response to a post claiming Musk was “paying to register Republicans,” Musk said said winners “can be from any political party or none and you don’t even have to vote.” He did not address the potential legal issue of opening the lottery only to registered voters.

The super PAC will take place on Sunday, the second day of the sweepstakes has reformulated its message around the giveaway, describing the money as payment for a job. In social media posts, the group said the winners would be “selected to earn $1 million as a spokesperson for America PAC” — and then posted pro-Trump testimonial videos featuring the winners.

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However, several election law experts who spoke to CNN pointed out that the fine print on Musk’s super PAC website explaining the official terms of entry did not change. Only petition signers can win the $1 million prize, and signers “must be registered voters from Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania or Wisconsin.”

It is not clear when Musk received the letter from the Justice Department and whether it prompted any changes in reporting surrounding the giveaway.