Is Musk's million-dollar US voter lottery legal?

Donald Trump surrogate Elon Musk's offer of a million dollars to one registered voter in a swing state every day until U.S. Election Day on Nov. 5 has raised questions about the legality of such a move.

While Democratic candidate Kamala Harris's campaign has not commented on the contest, Josh Shapiro, the Democratic Governor of Pennsylvania, said on NBC's Meet the Press: "I think it's something that law enforcement should take a look at."

Musk, the world's richest man, announced the contest Saturday in Pennsylvania, one of the seven "swing states" that will likely determine who will become the next U.S. president—Harris or Republican Trump.

The contest requires entrants to sign a petition "to support free speech & the right to bear arms," Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk said on X, the social media platform he owns.

The endeavor enters hot water with the requirement that people are registered to vote in swing states in order to participate.

Danielle Lang, a professor at Georgetown Law School who specializes in election law, told AFP the contest could be "subject to civil or criminal enforcement by the Department of Justice."

"It is illegal to give out money on the condition that recipients register as voters," she said.

"As the terms of this 'contest' to win $1 million require the recipient to be a registered voter in one of seven swing states (or to register if they have not already), the offer violates federal law," she continued.

 Gray area 

Rick Hasen, a political science professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Law, expressed a similar sentiment on his Election Law Blog.

He cited the specific law that prohibits anyone who "pays or offers to pay or...