Elon Musk’s America PAC is facing scrutiny from the Justice Department over a $1 million sweepstakes aimed at increasing voter registrations in swing states, per CNN.
Musk “fully endorsing” former US President Donald Trump, has pledged millions to support Trump’s 2024 campaign, and his political action committee (PAC) is promoting the sweepstakes with the goal of boosting voter turnout in crucial battleground states.
The controversy centres on federal law, which prohibits “paying individuals to register to vote”. Musk’s America PAC initially promised $1 million prizes to individuals chosen at random for signing a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments.
However, to be eligible to sign the petition, participants had to be registered voters in specific swing states.
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PAC’s activities could violate federal election law
The Justice Department’s public integrity section, which handles potential election law violations, reportedly sent a letter to Musk’s PAC warning of the legal concerns. Federal law clearly forbids financial incentives tied to voter registration.
On the second day of the sweepstakes, America PAC revised it as the giveaway as a job opportunity, claiming the winners would be “selected to earn $1M as a spokesperson for America PAC.”
Musk has publicly defended this during a Trump campaign event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. “We want to try to get over a million, maybe 2 million voters in the battleground states to sign the petition in support of the First and Second Amendment,” Musk said during the rally.
“We are going to be awarding $1 million randomly to people who have signed the petition, every day, from now until the election.”
Responding to a claim that the sweepstakes was an attempt to “pay to register Republicans,” Musk clarified that winners “can be from any or no political party and you don’t even have to vote.”
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Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat and former state attorney general voiced that the giveaway was “deeply concerning” and warranted legal investigation. Musk responded to Shapiro’s remarks on his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter), by saying it was “concerning that he would say such a thing.”
