Is Elon Musk breaking the law with his $1 million donations? Experts weigh in

Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email to get exclusive U.S. reporting and analysis delivered straight to your inbox

Get our free Inside Washington email

Elon Musk is promising $1 million in daily prizes to registered voters in battleground states who sign a petition from his Donald Trump-supporting political action committee.

The catch: The world's richest man — who pumped at least $75 million into Trump's presidential campaign — is limiting the sweepstakes to voters in seven swing states. The deadline for signing the petition coincided exactly with the voter registration deadlines in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Under federal law, it is illegal to pay, offer to pay, or accept payment to register or vote, with a penalty of up to five years in prison.

Did Musk create an illegal detour to get people to register to vote by requiring certain registered voters to sign his petition? Are the people who accepted the money taking illegal bribes?

It is up to federal prosecutors to decide whether to open an investigation. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro called it “deeply concerning” and suggested law enforcement could address it.

Voting rights experts and civil rights groups who have sounded the alarm over Musk's campaign turnaround say his latest ploy is either blatantly illegal or a legal but repugnant attempt to exploit vulnerabilities in voting law by merging a voter registration campaign with his multi-million dollar Trump -Campaign.

Either way, Musk's stunt is “just the latest – and most egregious – example of wealthy special interests distorting our political process at the expense of ordinary voters,” said Adav Noti, executive director of the Campaign Legal Center.

“It is extremely problematic that the richest man in the world is trying to use his money to directly influence the outcome of this election. This is not how our democracy should work,” he said in a statement The Independent. “It is illegal to buy votes, it is illegal to buy voter registration, and the Department of Justice has the power to enforce these important laws through civil or criminal action.”

The petition from Musk's America PAC asks supporters to express their support for the First and Second Amendments, which protect the right to free speech and the right to bear arms. Trump is not mentioned.

Rich Hasen, a professor at the UCLA School of Law and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project, said Musk's ploy was “clearly illegal.”

“What he’s essentially doing is holding a lottery and the only people who can enter are registered to vote. So there's either an incentive … or a reward,” Hasen told MSNBC.

The Justice Department states that a “bribe” could include “anything that has monetary value, including cash, alcohol, lottery chances, and welfare benefits such as food stamps.”

It doesn't ban things like voting trips or companies providing paid leave so employees can vote. “Such things are given to make it easier for people to vote, not to encourage them to do so. This distinction is important,” the Justice Department said. “For an offer or payment to violate (federal law), it must be intended to induce or reward the voter to perform one or more actions necessary to cast a vote.”

“When you start limiting prizes or giveaways to only registered voters or only to people who voted, that creates bribery fears,” Derek Muller, a professor at Notre Dame Law School, told CNN. “By limiting the drawing to registered voters, it looks like you’re donating cash to voter registration.”

Justin Levitt, a Loyola Law School professor and constitutional scholar, also argued that conducting the contest, which requires voter registration, makes the purpose of the program clear and illegal.

“I understand that proponents of the plan point out that many of the petition signatories were already registered,” he said The Washington Post. “And if his lottery was for someone who had already registered before last week, it would be perfectly legal. But that wasn’t the case, precisely because he wants people to register and not just sign the petition.”

The sweepstakes runs parallel to, but not necessarily separate from, Musk's voter registration campaign and his broader, multimillion-dollar campaign to elect Trump.

To win the prize, participants must be a registered voter in one of seven swing states and registrations must be received by the end of the day on Monday – which is also the deadline for registering to vote in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

The first two winners announced are registered Republicans in Pennsylvania, according to voting records reviewed by The Independent.

“When he called me, the first thing I did was scream,” first-prize winner John Dreher said in a video on Musk’s America PAC account after Musk presented him with an oversized check for $1 million.

“I put my arms in the air,” he said. “When I met Elon, I forgot about money for a while… He's such an influential figure for guys my age who work hard every day.”

Kristine Fishell, the second winner, also received a special-sized check when she appeared on stage with Musk in Pittsburgh on Sunday.

“Hearing my name was the surprise of my life,” she said in a video. “Winning a million dollars is crazy. I was super excited and still am.”