Just sign it.' Video appears to show $5-a-pop ballot petition fraud; state launches probe
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A video circulating online appears to show signature collectors paying people to sign initiative petitions under other people’s names, according to officials, and now the state has opened an investigation.The video, filmed by self-described street videographer JJ Smith, shows a long queue leading to a table set up at 6th and Mission streets in San Francisco.A man in line says they are being offered $5 to sign petitions.
At the table, where there are lists with the information of apparent registered voters, a woman confirms the payment and — using a highlighter — instructs a person on the name and address that she is supposed to use.“I get $5 too?” the person filming asks.“Yeah,” says the woman.“And what is it?”“Just sign it,” she says.Petitions connected to at least three ballot campaigns — including the billionaire-backed effort to thwart California’s proposed billionaire tax — appear in the video.“I approached some people and asked them what they were there for,” Smith told The Times.
“They told me they didn’t know what they were signing for, that they just wanted the $5.”Smith, whose real name is Omar Ward, has been known for posting images on social of people suffering from addiction on San Francisco’s streets.He said he watched the scene for hours and estimated that a few hundred people cycled through the line over roughly two hours.Those running the table did not ask for anyone’s identification and gave no explanation of what was actually being signed, he said.The video showed voter data from San Luis Obispo County that was both visible and, as details were spoken aloud, audible in the footage.The county acted immediately after becoming aware of the video and initiated an investigation through the fraud unit of the California secretary of state’s office, said Erin Clausen, public information officer for the San Luis Obispo count...