Washington, Oct 23 (EFE).- The United States Department of Justice warned billionaire Elon Musk Wednesday that his one-million-dollar lottery for registered voters in swing states could violate federal law.
The Public Integrity Section of the department, which investigates potential violations of election law, sent a letter to Musk’s political action committee, America PAC, a tax exempt organizations that pool campaigns contributions to the Trump campaign with the backing of several prominent tech entrepreneurs.
Last week, Musk launched a “lottery” promising one million dollars to people randomly selected from signers of a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments, which protect free speech and the right to bear arms.
However, to sign it, individuals must be registered in key states for the elections on Nov. 5 and Federal law in the US prohibits paying people to register to vote.
The owner of X and CEO of Tesla and SpaceX pledged on Sunday to randomly donate up to one million dollars a day until election day to voters in Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, or Wisconsin.
Musk has been at odds with criticism that he is paying for the registration of Republicans. The winners “can be from any or no political party and you don’t even have to vote,” he posted on X.
America PAC restructured the petition, highlighting that the winners were acting as spokespersons for the committee.
CNN pointed out that it was unclear whether the DOJ letter had reached Musk and, if so, whether it had prompted any changes to the messaging.
On Nov. 5, former president (2017-2021) and Republican candidate Donald Trump will face off against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential elections.
According to FiveThirtyEight’s average of polls, the Democratic candidate leads Trump by 1.8 points, capturing 48.2% of voters’ intentions. EFE
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