Elon Musk Is Offering Payouts to Registered Voters. Is it Legal?
Elon Musk’s public offerings of cash payments — and even a chance at $1 million — to registered voters who sign a vague petition are drawing scrutiny from Democrats and federal prosecutors — who are warning the right-wing billionaire that his cash giveaways may violate federal law.
According to a Wednesday report from CNN, the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Section —which oversees the enforcement of federal election laws — has issued Musk a letter warning that his million-dollar sweepstakes for registered voters in critical swing states may be illegal. It’s unclear on what date Musk received the letter, but over the weekend his political PAC made some changes to the marketing surrounding the giveaway, reframing winners of the draw as winners of the opportunity to become “a spokesperson for America PAC.”
This comes after the DOJ confirmed to CBS News on Tuesday that former federal prosecutors and Republican appointees have requested that the DOJ “review payments that the Elon Musk-founded America PAC is making to voters in Pennsylvania and other states that experts say raise serious questions under applicable law.” The letter comes days after Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro called for an investigation into the payments being made to voters in his state.
Earlier this month, Musk began publicly offering $47 cash payments to registered voters who get other swing state residents — who also must be registered to vote — to sign a “Petition in Favor of Free Speech and the Right to Bear Arms.” The cash giveaway was upped to $100 for signature referrals in Pennsylvania — where Musk has been campaigning on behalf of Trump. On Saturday, he started offering a $1 million daily giveaway that will continue through Election Day.
“Federal law bars paying voters anything of value for registering to vote,” the former federal prosecutors write in their letter asking for an investigation. “The payments are framed as being made for signing, or referring others to sign, a ‘petition” in support of the First and Second Amendments.’ But only registered voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina may receive payments.”
“We urge you to investigate whether America PAC’s payments are prohibited payments for voter
Registration,” they add. “We recognize that they are framed as payments for signing a petition, or for referring voters who sign. But many of the payments are restricted to registered voters, so anyone who wishes to get paid must first register. To facilitate that, the petition webpage includes links to voter registration websites for each of the seven states, directly alongside the offer of payment.”
The letter notes that the cut-off date to receive $100 for signing the petition is Oct. 21 — the final day of voter registration in Pennsylvania.
“We are aware of nothing like this in modern political history. Federal law […] imposes up to five years in prison on anyone who ‘knowingly or willfully . . . pays or offers to pay or accepts payment . . . for registration to vote.’ And the Department of Justice has long explained that anything having monetary value may constitute a payment under this prohibition, including lottery chances,” the letter continues.
Musk has taken a direct hand in Trump’s ground game ahead of election day — with questionable results. As previously reported by Rolling Stone, GOP operatives close to the former president are reporting displeasure from state-level organizers over how get-out-the-vote operations are unfolding in key swing states under the direction of America PAC. The concerns are largely centered around the involvement of high-ranking officials from Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ failed run against Trump in the 2024 GOP primary, which turned out to be a humiliating ordeal for the governor. “Why in the world would we trust them with anything?” one GOP official close to the Trump campaign told Rolling Stone. According to Reuters, Musk’s PAC is struggling to meet its voter canvassing goals and dealing with reports of volunteers falsifying engagement metrics.
Now, as Musk campaigns alongside Trump, jokes about an assassination attempt against Kamala Harris, and touts his million-dollar giveaways, it seems that the petition may not be motivating undecided swing voters, but existing supporters of the former president and fans of the awkward billionaire. According to a Tuesday report from Politico, at least two recipients of the controversial million-dollar prize were Republicans who had already voted before winning the raffle.
Amid his promotion of the stunt, Musk bragged on Monday that “new Republican voter registration last week in Pennsylvania absolutely crushed Democrat voter registration!” Musk and America PAC have not released data related to the identity of petitioners, and it’s unclear if the initiative has resulted in a significant bump in GOP voter registration in the key swing state.
Experts have pointed out that the scheme likely falls into a gray area of election law, but could constitute a violation of prohibitions against paying voters to register.
“When you start limiting prizes or giveaways to only registered voters or only people who have voted, that’s where bribery concerns arise,” election law expert Derek Muller told CNN. “By limiting a giveaway only to registered voters, it looks like you’re giving cash for voter registration.”
Rick Hansen, Professor at the UCLA School of Law, wrote in a blog post that the scheme is “clearly illegal.”
“Who can sign the petitions? Only registered voters in swing states, which is what makes it illegal,” he wrote.
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