The Department of Justice (DOJ) of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris has issued a warning to tech billionaire Elon Musk's super PAC, the America Pac. The agency claimed America PAC may be violating laws prohibiting payments or incentives to influence voting.
A letter sent to Musk's America PAC from the DOJ warned that his lottery-style giveaway of $1 million per day to registered voters may be illegal.
Musk, the world's richest man, actively campaigns for former President Donald Trump in his presidential bid against Harris. He recently began giving away prizes to American voters who signed a petition confirming their support for the First and Second Amendments. (Related: Elon Musk announces daily $1 million prize for online petition signatures supporting U.S. Constitution, Trump campaign.)
Reports indicate that the letter informed Musk's team that the giveaway may violate federal election laws. It was sent by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section following outrage from Democrats over the cash stunt.
Under United States law, it is illegal to pay people to register to vote.
"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 Amendment," Musk said in Pennsylvania when he announced the event. The contest rules state that winners must be registered to vote, but no party affiliation is required.
The warning was conveyed in a letter from Robert Heberle, who leads Election Crimes Branch of the Public Integrity Section, to America PAC’s attorney Chris Gober, and emphasized that offering anything of value to sway voting decisions contravenes federal laws.
There are no immediate legal actions indicated in the warning. However, Heberle outlines potential penalties for violating U.S. voting laws, including fines and imprisonment of up to five years.
Experts question legality of the sweepstakes' requirements
Election law experts have raised concerns about the legality of the sweepstakes' requirements. On his blog, seasoned election law expert Rick Hasen suggested that participants needing to demonstrate their voter registration could likely contravene voting regulations.
Michael Kang, a professor of campaign finance law at Northwestern University, said extra steps like the petition don't change the fundamental facts.
"In the end, this violates the federal statute against paying someone to register to vote for a federal election," Kang said. "This isn’t paying someone to register to vote, but requiring them to be a registered voter in order to qualify for the prize."
America PAC changed the messaging around the petition, calling it payment for serving as "a spokesperson for America PAC." But the fine print of the sweepstakes remains the same.
"If it was next summer – not connected to a presidential election coming up in a month – and was just intended to collect data on people who support the Second Amendment, that would be fine," Kang said of the petition. "I think the context is really critical. It’s not just the requirements of the program, it’s how it’s being presented."
Election watchdogs caught onto the move quickly. The Justice Department confirmed that it had received a letter from 11 former government officials – who described themselves as having "served in senior legal and law-enforcement roles under every Republican president from Richard Nixon to Donald Trump" – urging the department to investigate the America PAC sweepstakes.
ElonMuskWatch.com has more stories related to this.
Watch the moment when Musk offered $1 million to random voters who signed his election petition every day until Election Day.
This video is from the Rick Langley channel on Brighteon.com.
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