The Skid Row vote cries out for investigation

Nearly 1,200 people registered to vote at a homeless shelter on Skid Row with 132 beds.185 people registered at a homeless drop-in center — with no beds at all.That is likely illegal, and it is likely a key to the story of how socialist City Councilmember Nithya Raman overtook Palisades Fire victim Spencer Pratt for second place in the LA mayoral race.Under California law, homeless people can register to vote, even though they do not have a fixed residence.They can use their last fixed address as their voting domicile; they can even specify a geographic location, as long as it is where they live, or where they intend to return.If they do not return there within a year, it is no longer their voting domicile.

If they move to another location without the intent to return to the first one, they have to re-register — unless it is already within 14 days of the next election. They can use a business address — like a homeless shelter — as their address, but only as long as they also intend to reside there.But there is almost no way 1,200 people can claim a small shelter as a voting domicile.Or that 185 can claim to reside at a center without beds.Theoretically, it is possible 1,200 people might use a shelter over a year. To vote from that address, they would have to receive their ballots there.

The question is who collected those ballots; whether they were filled out, and by whom; and whether they were returned.What is not hard to imagine is how the Raman campaign might have organized a ballot harvesting operation in Skid Row.  California's top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.Please provide a valid email.

By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story Raman’s first job in LA after she moved to the city in 2013 was to work on homeless policy.

Before running for City Council in 2020, she founded the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalit...