California petition worker arrested for allegedly paying people to forge voter signs

A California ballot petition worker has been arrested and charged with identity fraud for allegedly paying people on Los Angeles’ Skid Row to forge the signatures of registered voters.

Prosecutors say James Brass, 47, orchestrated the scheme with the help of two signature collectors, 49-year-old Courtney Price and 33-year-old Jateisha Herron.

In California, a proposed statute or constitutional amendment can only qualify for inclusion on a ballot if proponents gather a certain number of signatures by a specified deadline.

To that end, Brass was contracted by an unidentified petition management company, which set a price for each signature gathered. The nature of the ballot measure remains unclear.

Brass, Price and Herron traveled across Southern California, including to Skid Row, an area in downtown Los Angeles inhabited by a large homeless community, to solicit participants, according to a grand jury indictment filed in a California district court.

The trio would fish for the personal information and names of state voters on a public database, before instructing individuals on Skid Row to use the voters’s identities in the fraudulent petition signatures.

Brass allegedly sought to conceal the location of where the signatures were coming from. He instructed Herron to “never ever say” downtown Los Angeles and instead reference Inglewood and Torrance.

Brass pocketed a total of $41,000 from the operation, according to the indictment.

Brass, Price and Herron have each been charged with one count for conspiracy to commit identity fraud. Brass and Herron were also charged with a count of identity fraud.

Brass has reportedly pleaded not guilty and is out of custody on a $10,000 bond.

“They allegedly used people, including members of Skid Row’s vulnerable homeless population, to try to cover up their tracks,” prosecutor Bill Essayli said in a statement. “The charged conduct undermines the confidence voters have in our election systems and we will vigorously investigate and charge anyone involved.”

The arrests come months after a 64-year-old woman, Brenda Armstrong, pleaded guilty to paying individuals on Skid Row to register as voters and sign her petitions.

In San Francisco, petition canvassers reportedly incentivized homeless people in the Tenderloin neighborhood this year to provide signatures by offering cash and food. Some of the alleged exchanges were captured in viral social media videos and have sparked a city investigation.