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Brett Kappel was recently quoted in a Washington Post article titled “Musk promises a daily $1 million lottery in questionable pro-Trump effort”, published by Mariana Alfaro on October 20, 2024. This past weekend, Elon Musk continued his efforts to support Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign by announcing a plan to encourage people in swing states to register to vote. After people register, they can sign a petition released by Musk’s super PAC, called America PAC. Once they sign the petition, they are entered into a lottery to win $1 million, and one name will be chosen everyday leading up to the election. Voters will also receive $47, or $100 if they live in Pennsylvania, if they persuade other swing state voters to register and sign the petition.

This latest move by Musk has raised many questions and concerns over the legality and ethics of enticing people to register to vote with a monetary reward, which is strictly prohibited under federal law. Kappel states that “You can’t give something of value to people in exchange for them voting or registering to vote.” Kappel supports this by referencing a federal statute “that states that whoever ‘makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate’ will face fines or jail time.” Kappel goes on to say that “…even if not illegal, Musk’s latest effort appears to signal that his super PAC ‘is not close to meeting its targets in terms of getting people out to vote for Trump.’”