“We want to try to get over a million, maybe two million voters in battleground states to sign a petition in support of the First and Second Amendments. … We’re going to randomly award $1 million to people who sign the petition every day until the election,” Musk said at a campaign event in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

X owner and Tesla CEO was referring to a petition launched by his political action committee affirming support for free speech and gun rights. The website, launched shortly before some registration deadlines, says: “This program is open exclusively to registered voters in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina.”

Musk, the world’s richest man, has donated more than $75 million to his pro-Trump super PAC and said he hopes lotteries will boost Trump voter registration. He recently hit the campaign trail in Pennsylvania, holding pro-Trump events, promoting his petition and spreading conspiracy theories about the 2020 election.

“This is a one-time thing,” Musk told the crowd shortly after the $1 million prize was announced. “Just go out and talk to your friends, family, acquaintances and people you meet on the street and… convince them to vote. Obviously, you need to register, make sure they are registered, and… make sure they vote.”

The first million-dollar winner was announced Saturday, with Musk presenting a giant check to a Trump supporter at his event in Harrisburg, saying, “Anyway, you’re welcome.” He announced the second winner Sunday afternoon during an event in Pittsburgh, handing out another check on a stage decorated with large signs reading “VOTE EARLY.”

In an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Musk’s giveaway was “deeply concerning” and “something law enforcement should be looking at.” Shapiro, a Democrat, previously served as state attorney general.

Federal law makes it a crime for anyone who “pays or offers to pay or accepts payment for either registering to vote or voting.” Punishable by imprisonment for a term of up to five years.

“When you start limiting prizes or gifts to only registered voters or only people who voted, that’s where the bribery issues arise,” said Derek Mueller, an election law expert who teaches at Notre Dame Law School. “By limiting the distribution to registered voters only, it appears that you are giving money for voter registration.”

Offering money to people who have already registered before the cash prize is announced could violate federal law, Mueller said, but the offer also “could include people who are not yet registered” and the potential “incentives for new registrations are much more problematic.” »

Most states only make it a crime to pay people to vote, said Mueller, who is also a CNN correspondent. He said federal prosecutors rarely bring election bribery cases and that the Supreme Court is narrowing the scope of bribery laws.

Despite the long odds of Musk being prosecuted, other respected election law experts have strongly condemned the billionaire’s behavior.

“This is not a particularly hard case—that’s what the law was designed to do,” said David Becker, a former Justice Department official who worked on voting rights cases and founder of the nonpartisan Center for Voting Innovation and Research.

Becker said the fact that the bonus is only available to registered voters “in one of seven swing states that could influence the outcome of the presidential election” is strong evidence of Musk’s intent to influence the race, which could be legally problematic.

“This offer was made in the final days before the registration deadline,” Becker said, confirming that the cash prizes are intended to increase registrations.

Rick Hasen, an election law expert at UCLA Law School and a Trump critic, said in a blog post that Musk’s betting was “clearly illegal vote buying.” He noted that the Justice Department’s election crimes guidelines explicitly state that it is illegal to offer “lottery odds” that are “designed to incentivize or reward” activities such as voter registration.

Another top Democratic official, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, on Saturday criticized Musk for “spreading dangerous misinformation” about the integrity of voter rolls after he falsely claimed the state had more voters than citizens.