The Biden-Harris administration is threatening Elon Musk with criminal charges over his plan to increase voter turnout in the upcoming presidential election by offering $1 million cash prizes to registered voters who sign his petition to pledge support for the First and Second Amendments of the US Constitution.
As Musk has been vigorously campaigning for former President Donald Trump and his America PAC petition offers the chance to win $1 million in daily draws of names of registered voters in seven battleground states. However, the Biden-Harris Department of Justice (DOJ) is warning that the money awarded “might violate federal laws against paying voters,” according to The New York Times, which said the correspondence could provoke a “criminal investigation” unless Musk ceases and desists. However, the letter does not categorically say that Musk’s program is definitely illegal.
The DOJ was prompted to pursue Musk after being notified by a group of never Trump Republicans who asked the Biden-Harris regime to clamp down on Musk’s project, the Daily Wire reported. Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have attempted to equate Republican support for election integrity laws with poll tax policies from the Jim Crow era. Their administration has sued the state of Virginia over its efforts to remove non-citizens from the voting rolls.
“I think it straddles the line, and it’s a little unclear whether it goes over the line or not,” John Fortier, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who specializes in election administration.
Nate Persily, a professor at Stanford Law School, told the network that what Musk is doing is politically original, so “we’re in new legal territory here,” the outlet noted.
“The relevant legal question is whether this is payment to induce people to register. If it is, then it violates the law,” he said. “If it’s payment to induce people to sign a petition, then it’s not a problem.”