WASHINGTON − On Friday, two Democratic senators urged the Justice Department to look into and possibly charge billionaire Elon Musk regarding his $1 million lottery payments aimed at registered pro-Trump voters across seven battleground states.

In a letter addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Sen. Peter Welch from Vermont and Sen. Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut claimed that Musk’s “incentive program seems to breach federal campaign finance regulations,” particularly since it is “clearly intended to encourage individuals to register to vote.”

They highlighted that the Justice Department’s Election Crimes Manual indicates that it is against the law to provide money or “lottery opportunities” if these incentives are “aimed at persuading or rewarding a voter for performing actions necessary to cast their vote.” Blumenthal is previously the attorney general of Connecticut.

This letter followed Musk’s America PAC issuing at least one additional $1 million payment after the DOJ warned him that the lottery could infringe upon federal election laws that prohibit cash incentives for voter registration.

“Vote buying has no place in our democratic system. As the Department has emphasized, voting should never ‘devolve into a spending war, where the winner is simply the candidate who can afford to pay the most voters,’ ” the senators stated. “Allowing this scheme to continue without consequences undermines both democracy and the law.”

The two senators requested that the DOJ investigate whether Musk’s cash prizes constitute illegal payments for voter registration and to “take suitable enforcement measures, including prosecution, if his actions are found to be unlawful.”

Musk’s super PAC quickly refrained from commenting on the letter, according to CNN. Neither Musk nor the Justice Department responded promptly to inquiries from YSL News.

The letter from the senators echoed a previous correspondence from 11 former Republican officials earlier that week, also calling for an investigation into the payments. Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro has likewise condemned the $1 million lottery and called for an inquiry.

Musk has not specifically addressed the backlash. However, in a recent post on X, previously known as Twitter, he implied that the payments were not illegal since those qualifying for the lottery by registering to vote “do not need to register as Republicans or participate in the November 5 election.”

Nevertheless, the America PAC’s online petition states that participants must pledge to uphold the Second Amendment, a statement commonly associated with opposition to gun control, a viewpoint favored by many Republican voters.

“We aim to get 1 million registered voters in swing states to endorse the Constitution, especially the freedom of speech and the right to bear arms,” Musk mentioned in a post on X.

Additionally, it included links directing users to online voter registration forms for swing states including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Nevada, Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina.