Elon Musk's $1 million daily donation to registered voters may be illegal, experts say

Washington
CNN
—

While campaigning for former President Donald Trump on Saturday, tech billionaire Elon Musk announced he would give away $1 million every day to registered voters in battleground states, drawing immediate scrutiny from election law experts, who said the sweepstakes could violate laws that prohibit paying people to register.

“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. … We will randomly award $1 million every day from now until the election to people who sign the petition,” Musk said at a campaign event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Tesla's X owner and CEO was referring to a petition launched by his political action committee that reiterated support for the rights to free speech and bear arms. The website, which launched just before some registration deadlines, states: “This program is open exclusively to registered voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina.”

Musk, the world's richest man, has donated more than $75 million to his pro-Trump super PAC and said he hopes the sweepstakes will boost registration among Trump voters. He recently hit the campaign trail in Pennsylvania, holding events to advocate for Trump, promote his petition and spread conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime question,” Musk told the crowd shortly after the $1 million prize was announced. “Just go out and talk to your friends, your family, your acquaintances and the people you meet on the street and… convince them to vote.” Of course you have to get registered, make sure they register are and…make sure they vote.”

The first million-dollar winner was announced on Saturday when Musk presented a huge check to a Trump supporter at his event in Harrisburg and said, “You're welcome!” He announced and presented the second winner on Sunday afternoon during an event in Pittsburgh another check on a stage decorated with large signs reading “VOTE EARLY.”

In an interview Sunday on NBC's “Meet the Press,” Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Musk's giveaway was “deeply concerning” and “something law enforcement could look at.” Shapiro, a Democrat, previously served as attorney general.

Federal law makes it a felony for anyone who “pays, offers to pay, or accepts payment either to register to vote or to vote.” The penalty is up to five years in prison.

“When you start limiting prizes or giveaways only to registered voters or only to people who voted, bribery fears arise,” said Derek Muller, an election law expert who teaches at Notre Dame Law School. “By limiting the drawing to registered voters, it looks like you’re donating cash to voter registration.”

Offering money to people who were already registered before the cash prize was announced could violate federal law, Mueller said, but the offer “may also include people who are not yet registered,” and the possible “incentives for new registrations are far more problematic.” “. ”

In most states, paying people to vote is already a crime, said Muller, who also writes for CNN. He said it was rare for federal prosecutors to bring electoral bribery cases and that the Supreme Court had narrowed the scope of bribery laws.

Despite the high likelihood of Musk being prosecuted, other respected election law experts strongly condemned the billionaire's behavior.

“This isn't a particularly close case — that's exactly what the law is intended to criminalize,” said David Becker, a former Justice Department official who handles voting rights cases and founder of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research.

Becker said the fact that the award was only available to registered voters “in one of seven swing states that could affect the outcome of the presidential election” was strong evidence of Musk's intent to influence the race, which could be legally problematic could.

“This offer was made in the last few days before some registration deadlines,” Becker said, reinforcing the appearance that the cash prizes are intended to spur registration.

Rick Hasen, an election law expert at the UCLA School of Law and a Trump critic, said in a blog post that Musk's sweepstakes was “clearly illegal vote buying.” He noted that the Justice Department's election crimes manual specifically states that it is illegal to offer “lottery opportunities” that are “intended to induce or reward actions such as voter registration.”

Another senior Democratic official, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, criticized Musk on Saturday for “spreading dangerous disinformation” about the integrity of the voter rolls after he falsely claimed that there were more voters than citizens in the state.