Musk Warned by DOJ About $1 Million Giveaway to Registered Voters

One of the latest gimmicks for voter registration is offering gift cards or an entry into a random drawing.

Elon Musk did this on steroids, offering an entry into a random drawing for $1 million in key swing states, and now the Department of Justice (DOJ) is all over him.

The Offer

Musk drew a lot of attention when he started offering a very attractive hourly rate and bonuses for signing people up to vote, as well as referral bonuses. That, in and of itself, did not appear to be illegal; it was just absurdly generous on Musk's part.

Musk, however, decided to take things up a notch by trying to generate more registered voters in the seven key swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. If you were a registered voter in those states, you needed to sign a petition supporting the Constitution, and you would then be entered into a daily $1 million drawing that would go through the election.

I am sure some people thought it was a joke, but after two days, Musk wrote two $1 million checks, which brought the ire of Democrats and liberals. There were immediate questions about whether Musk was breaking the law, and I have to be honest, I was even wondering where such an offer stood on the legal scale. Well, that question appears to have been answered.

Check It Out

No sooner had Musk written those first two checks than the DOJ was notified, and then Musk got the call. Reports surfaced this week that the DOJ had reached out to Musk, letting him know that his little giveaway was now under investigation.

The federal code states, “Whoever … pays or offers to pay or accepts payment either for registration to vote or for voting shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.” So, this is where it gets tricky.

Musk is not paying people to register to vote, being a registered voter is merely a qualifier for the drawing. The requirement is to sign the petition to support the Constitution.

And yes, I realize I am talking semantics here, but that is our legal system and how it works. The letter of the law is far different than the spirit of the law. But again, this is far different from the incentives I have seen offered previously, which literally gave gift cards away to people who registered to vote.

According to one report, the first three people who received a check from Musk were all Republicans, but all three had already cast their votes in early voting in Pennsylvania. I would also note that since Musk was warned by the DOJ, the announcements of the winners have halted.

Watching Him Like a Hawk

Musk went from the nation’s darling to villain status the moment he announced that he would endorse Trump in this election. In an interview with Tucker Carlson, Musk announced that he was “all-in” on Trump and could care less about the backlash. And believe me, that backlash came rather quickly.

The latest tirade on this front came from actor Michael Keaton, who just released “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.” He may have just cost himself from conservative tickets, posting a video that stated, "For some of you folks who uh – guys mostly, I guess – who are thinking about attending a rally with Musk and uh, Trump. They don’t really respect you, they laugh at you behind your back, they think you’re stupid. They don’t want to hang out with you, they have nothing in common with you. They’re not your bros."

To that, I would say, when was the last time Michael Keaton offered to hang out with a fan or someone other than his Hollywood buddies? People are not so stupid they think that Trump wants to be their buddy; that is not what this movement is all about.

MAGA is more about tearing down the existing system of elites that promise the American people everything while they fill their pockets with kickbacks, tax dollars on stipends, and insider trading deals. So, I would say to Keaton, backing the status quo is showing no respect, bro.