Musk announced the $1 million giveaway at an event in Harrisburg, Pa., on Saturday. The event was part of a tour supporting Trump.

“I have a surprise for you," Musk said shortly before bringing out a giant check. "We are going to be awarding $1 million to people who have signed the petition — every day, from now until the election.”

“If you look at the conditions, you must be a registered voter,” Hasen said. “And so this is essentially a lottery that’s open only to people who register to vote. So it’s either an incentive for someone to vote or it’s a reward. And either way, it violates federal law.”

He calls Musk’s actions “clearly illegal” because it violates statute 52 U.S.C. 10307© and the Department of Justice’s election manual.

Hasen said willful violation of statute 52 U.S.C. 10307© comes with a $10,000 fine and up to five years in prison.

“I don’t think it would be likely that he would suffer such a serious fine,” Hasen said of Musk. “Although, if he was warned that this is illegal activity and continued to do it, I think that would create a different kind of situation.”

  • Tolookah@discuss.tchncs.de
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    22 days ago

    $10,000 is worth the publicity, they’ll spend more than that on lawyers avoiding the 5 years.

    I hate that justice has a paywall

    • dandelion@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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      22 days ago

      “I don’t think it would be likely that he would suffer such a serious fine,” Hasen said of Musk. “Although, if he was warned that this is illegal activity and continued to do it, I think that would create a different kind of situation.”