Elon Musk’s super PAC did not announce a winner for its “daily” $1 million giveaway to registered swing state voters on Wednesday, the same day that news broke that the Justice Department warned Musk’s group that his lottery could be illegal.
The pro-Trump group, America PAC, had publicly announced a winner every day since Saturday, when Musk announced he would award $1 million each day to people who sign his petition. The petition is in support of the First and Second Amendments of the Constitution, but importantly, only registered voters in the swing state can sign the petition and therefore qualify for the money.
FactsTimes reported Wednesday afternoon that the Justice Department had sent a warning letter to the super PAC, informing it that the lottery may be violating federal law against offering incentives such as cash or prizes to encourage voter registration, people with knowledge of the matter said.
The super PAC has announced its winners each day with much fanfare, with flashy videos posted on social media and celebratory tweets from Musk. It’s unclear whether the Justice Department’s letter is the reason the super PAC didn’t announce a winner on Wednesday.
The owner of X and CEO of Tesla has defended the giveaway multiple times on social media. In response to a post alleging that Musk was “paying to register Republicans,” Musk said on X that winners “can be from any political party or no party and you don’t even have to vote.” He didn’t address the potential legal issue of only opening the lottery to registered voters.
After Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat and former state attorney general, said Sunday that the giveaway was “deeply troubling” and deserved legal scrutiny, Musk posted on his X platform that it was “troubling that he would say something like that.”
On Sunday, the second day of the sweepstakes, the super PAC reframed its message around the giveaway, describing the money as payment for a job. In social media posts, the group said winners would be “selected to earn $1 million as a spokesperson for America PAC” — and then posted pro-Trump testimonial videos with the winners.
However, several voting rights experts who spoke pointed out that the fine print on Musk’s super PAC website explaining the official terms of participation has not been changed.
Musk, the world’s richest man, has been vocal in his support for Trump, giving more than $75 million to his pro-Trump super PAC. He has said he hopes the lottery will boost Trump voter registration.
He first appeared on the campaign trail with Trump earlier this month, when he urged people to register to vote and portrayed Democrats as a threat to democracy at Trump’s rally that returned to Butler, Pennsylvania, the site of an assassination attempt in July.
Musk also held his own town halls in Pennsylvania last week, urging voters to support Trump and promoting several debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.