Elon Musk appears to be running an illegal voter lottery so Republicans and former prosecutors have requested a DOJ investigation.
Scott Macfarlane of CBS News posted:
Justice Dept confirms to @cbsnews that it has received inquiry from former federal prosecutors and GOP appointees to “request that (Justice Dept) review payments that are being made by the Elon Musk-founded America PAC to voters in Pennsylvania and other states that experts say raise serious questions under applicable law”
It is possible for the DOJ to act quickly. The investigation should not take long. According to experts like UCLA professor Rick Hasen, Musk is violating federal election law by entering people who sign his super PAC’s petition for Trump into a lottery where he is giving away $1 million a day until election day.
Professor Hasen said on MSNBC, “Essentially this is a lottery open only to registered voters. It’s either an inducement to get someone to register to vote who’s not registered or it’s a reward. And federal law says you can’t do that.”
Video of Hasen:
UCLA Law professor Rick Hasen on Elon Musk’s voter lottery, “So essentially this is a lottery open only to registered voters. It’s either an inducement to get someone to register to vote who’s not registered or it’s a reward. And federal law says you can’t do that.” pic.twitter.com/ci0Wm0fGWU
— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) October 21, 2024
Even Elon Musk is unlikely to want to mess with the DOJ, so once the investigation becomes formalized, Musk will either try to ride it out and keep his lottery going in the hope that Trump wins or he will shut his lottery down and accuse the DOJ of election interference.
It appears to be criminal for Musk to engage in what looks like a scheme to buy votes, and it is also illegal for any voter to sell their vote, so the criminal penalties can cut both ways.
The bottom line is that if it hasn’t already, which it probably has, the DOJ will be investigating Elon Musk.
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Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
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