--- title: "Elon Musk Starts Paying Voters Again After DOJ Warning" description: "PAC Party Elon Musk's pro-Trump political action committee (PAC) seemed like it was acquiescing with the Justice Department's warning to knock it off with the paying voters thing — until he started back up again. In posts on the social network he owns, Musk announced Thursday night that two more people had been sent checks […]" date: "2024-10-25" modified: "2024-10-25" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-paying-voters-again" categories: - "Elon Musk" - "Future Society" - "The Industrialists" tags: - "donald trump" - "elon musk" - "politics" - "the digest" --- # Elon Musk Starts Paying Voters Again After DOJ Warning ![Elon Musk has started paying voters again, despite warnings from the Justice Department that it might be illegal.]() *\Image: Michael Swensen via Getty\* ## PAC Man Elon Musk's pro-Trump political action committee (PAC) seemed like it was [acquiescing with the Justice Department's warning]() to knock it off with the paying voters thing — until it started back up again. In [posts]() on the [social network]() he owns, Musk announced Thursday night that two more people had been sent checks for $1 million apiece after failing to do so on Wednesday, after the DOJ [sent him a warning letter]() informing him that his scheme likely violates federal election law. Announced last Saturday [during a Trump campaign stop](), these giveaways are ostensibly part of a voter registration drive that urges people to get out to the polls. As such, Musk's "America PAC" is randomly selecting people in swing states who sign its [petition in support of the Constitutional rights]() of free speech and gun ownership, and the billionaire has insisted that paying petitioners is not the same thing as paying people to register to vote, which is illegal. "You can be from any or no political party," [Musk tweeted]() in response to [criticism from author Stephen King]() earlier this week, "and you don’t even have to vote." Soon after Musk made the announcement, a group of former Republican lawmakers and officials [sent Attorney General Eric Garland a letter]() urging the DOJ to investigate the prizes, which they said are unheard of and potentially illegal. It's clear the bipartisan reachout got the AG's attention — though it doesn't seem to have held Musk's for very long. ## Legal Test While the giveaways are certainly unprecedented, legal experts are divided as to whether or not they're allowed by law. "I’ve gone back and forth on it," Columbia University Law School legislation professor [Richard Briffault told *ABC*](). "It clearly violates the spirit of the statute, but it’s not 100 percent clear to me that it violates the letter of the law." On the left coast, another law professor disagrees. "Though maybe some of the other things Musk was doing were of murky legality, this one is clearly illegal," UCLA School of Law professor and political scientist Rick Hasen, who heads up the university's Safeguarding Democracy Project, [wrote on his Election Law Blog](). Now that Musk is back at it again, that question may well be put to the test — and with the presidential election just 10 days away, it almost certainly won't get answered before the election. **More on Musk's politicking:** [*Elon Musk, Who Has Ties to Both Epstein and Diddy, Criticizes People With Ties to Epstein and Diddy*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()