Justice Department cautions Musk on $1 million giveaway

The U.S. Department of Justice issued a warning to Elon Musk’s political action committee questioning the legality of gifting $1 million to registered swing-state voters, according to independent reporting by 24Sight News. America PAC identified its latest winner on Tuesday, the day after the DOJ’s Monday letter, and hasn’t named daily winners since.

What giveaway is Musk running? The billionaire’s PAC launched a sweepstakes, giving away $1 million every day to a registered voter in a swing state until the Nov. 5 election. Any swing state resident would become eligible by signing a petition expressing support for the First and Second Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. Only registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are eligible to receive the prize and signing bonus, according to America PAC.

Signers don’t even need to vote or have any party affiliation, they just need to support something they already believe in, Musk said. The PAC handed out its first two checks over the weekend in Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, Pa. The third check went to another woman just outside Pittsburgh, and the fourth went to a man in central North Carolina.

Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro voiced concern over Musk’s million-dollar sweepstakes earlier this week. Musk has every right to support his views, but serious questions are raised when one starts injecting this much money into politics, he told NBC’s Meet the Press. The dark money is flowing into the pockets of Pennsylvanians and officials should look into it, he added.

But how is the scheme illegal if the PAC isn’t paying people to vote? The DOJ’s election crimes head Robert Heberle penned a letter reminding America PAC’s legal team that federal law barred bribing voters to cast ballots or register, according to 24Sight News, citing a source it characterized as someone familiar with the letter. Federal voting and election law states that whoever knowingly pays or offers to pay for registration to vote could face a $10,000 fine with up to five years in prison. The DOJ’s manual on election crimes defines a bribe as anything having monetary value, namely cash or lottery chances. The petition raffle isn’t the problem, it’s allowing only registered voters in swing states to be eligible to receive the cash prize which makes it illegal, according to legal analyst Rick Hasen.

WORLD reached out to America PAC for comment and did not receive an immediate reply.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report on the left-leaning game, Cards Against Humanity, launching a similar money-motivated campaign to voters.