Elon Musk's America PAC tries to persuade states to drop voter registration investigations

Elon Musk’s America PAC is trying to persuade election officials in Michigan and North Carolina to back off their investigations of its voter registration practices.

And the political action committee may have succeeded at least in part, as Michigan says it hasn’t found evidence of any violations of state campaign finance law but will continue to monitor the situation.

Michigan and North Carolina said earlier this month that they were looking into America PAC’s website after some people called it misleading. The website collected personal information from users including their age and cellphone number but failed to direct them to voter registration help if they entered a ZIP code from certain states, CNBC reported.

Formed in May and classified as a super PAC, America PAC is supporting former President Donald Trump in his bid to return to the White House, and it’s one way that Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has deepened his involvement in conservative politics in recent years.

Although Musk’s name has not yet appeared on the committee’s public disclosure of contributors, he has said that he created it and that he’s donating to it. He’s also deeply involved in organizational decisions, The Wall Street Journal reported this month. America PAC’s donors so far include Musk associates such as investor Antonio Gracias and Joe Lonsdale, a co-founder of Palantir Technologies.

Last month, Trump said he expected Musk to support him with $45 million a month in campaign funds, though Musk later said the amount would be lower.

However, the website was an early stumble for America PAC. Voting rights advocates have said that it’s deceptive to collect people’s personal data under the pretense of voter registration without actually helping them, and that doing so could give people a false assurance that they’ve registered.

Now, America PAC is no longer letting the general public use its website for voter registration. Instead, the super PAC is running ads online that target battleground state voters, including on Facebook and Instagram, and the ads appear to direct users to state-run official registration websites, including in states such as Michigan where previously it did not, according to searches by NBC News.

The homepage of America PAC no longer mentions voter registration or other election activities.

America PAC has responded to election officials in both states, according to copies of letters obtained by NBC News from the state offices Wednesday.

The letters to Michigan and North Carolina are nearly identical. In them, lawyers for America PAC wrote that “your office can rest assured knowing that America PAC is utilizing the data it collects to register voters and encourage them to vote.”

“Admittedly, not all our plans or strategies are public at this time, but any investigation into our efforts will prove premature and imprudent,” wrote the lawyers, Chris Gober and Charlie Spies.

The lawyers went on to write that the super PAC is acting in good faith.

“Therefore, we believe we will be deserving of a commendation, not an investigation, from your office,” they wrote.

Both states told NBC News that they’re continuing to monitor the super PAC and others like it for potential violations of state law, though there are no indications that either state is pursuing immediate action against America PAC. “We have not found evidence of any violations of Michigan campaign finance law but will continue to monitor the situation,” Angela Benander, a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of State, wrote in an email. She said that, in addition to the written assurances from America PAC’s lawyers, the website’s terms of service now explicitly state that the committee will use data it collects to register people to vote.

Michigan sent America PAC a letter in return, saying that the office’s interest “came in response to concerns that potential Michigan voters were being misled.”

Patrick Gannon, a spokesperson for the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said the board’s staff conferred with America PAC on how to conduct voter registration consistent with state law.

“The State Board of Elections will continue to work with and monitor all PAC and third-party efforts to make sure voter registration and absentee ballot requests efforts comply with North Carolina law,” Gannon wrote in an email.

A spokesperson for America PAC declined to comment beyond the letters.