Federal law prohibits anyone from knowingly or willfully paying or offering to pay or accepting payment for registering to vote or voting (42 USC § 1973i(c)). It applies to primaries and elections that have candidates on the ballot for the office of president, vice president, presidential elector, or member of Congress, whether or not the violation alleges payment related to a candidate for one of those particular offices. It includes criminal penalties for violations. -
https://www.cga.ct.gov/2001/rpt/2001-R-0132.htm
It sucks when Elon does this shit just as much as when someone does it for your team, guys.
The CAH folks have pretty good lawyers. Judging purely on the fact that they formed a Super PAC, they likely have good legal cover.
I found this pretty interesting:
How do you know who didn’t vote?
We formed a Super PAC and bought the personal voting records of every American citizen from a data broker we found on the internet. It’s pretty fucked up.
And later on:
How do you know who’s “blue leaning”?
We got your partisan lean from the same data broker who sold us your voting history. You wouldn’t believe how easy it was for us to get this stuff. So fucked up!
If they are basing this on which primary you vote in, it's going to be terrible since people like me who live in a swing state vote in the Republican primary since that's a more effective use of my vote than the Democratic primary.
I dont doubt that they have good lawyers but the law doesn't just have penalties for the people paying out, it also has penalties for accepting it. Even if they were offering free legal services to people who participate it still wouldn't be worth it.
Try giving that loophole explanation to any reasonable and professional judge and see how far that gets you.
Flip the sides and I would be surprised if a Trump appointed judge didnt accept some kind of bullshit loophole like this.
I love CAH as much as the next degen but this feels iffy at best. But also they presumable ran this passed at least one lawyer who said ‘fuck it lets ball’ so maybe there is a leg to stand on here.
I really do not think its worth gambling with federal charges over (up to*)$100, but if you're willing to risk it by all means, submit to their public shaming for a pittance, or implicate yourself by contributing. I just want people to know what they're getting into.