Months after O’Keefe Media Group exposed a cash-for-ballots election fraud operation on Los Angeles Skid Row, and after the Department of Justice announced indictments and promised a sweeping investigation, we returned to the streets to see if anything had changed, and it hadn’t.
Our undercover journalists once again caught petition workers who were openly offering cash in exchange for signing a petition using someone else’s name.
“Alright, so the name you’re gonna write is gonna be Timothy Adams,” the petition worker instructed. “I’m gonna give you a name, write it down, I’ll give you two bucks.”
The individual operating the scheme didn’t mince words. He acknowledged it was illegal and even compared being questioned about his operation to asking a drug dealer about his prices, with LAPD officers nearby. “There’s a lot of f**kin police over here and he’s [homeless guy] always asking, like ‘How much are you paying to sign?’”
We spoke with homeless residents and NGO workers on Skid Row, who confirmed the petitioners never left. “They’ll [Election Fraudsters] be across the street, they be right here, they be somewhere on every corner,” one told us.
The cash-for-signatures scheme continues in plain sight, just as it did in our initial investigations earlier this year. Those reports revealed petitioners paying homeless individuals $2–$3 (or more) per forged signature, often providing printed voter lists, and accessing online databases like sigvalid.com to pull real voters’ names and addresses. Circulators instructed signers on exactly what to write, forging identities to ensure petitions passed verification so they could collect their per-signature payouts sometimes exceeding $1,000 a day.
Despite the DOJ’s response including the indictment of figures like Brenda Brown on federal charges carrying up to five years in prison, the operation persists.
OMG’s undercover journalists spoke with homeless residents and NGO workers on Skid Row, who confirmed that the petitioners never left. “They’re still out here,” multiple sources told us, describing ongoing activity throughout the area in broad daylight.
This proves these election fraudsters are still actively breaking federal law (52 U.S.C. §10307(c)) and California Elections Code, which strictly prohibit paying for signatures or forging them, yet the scheme appears resilient. Previous arrests in 2016 and 2019 for similar conduct on Skid Row failed to deter it.
OMG will continue shining a light on this. Real accountability requires more than announcements; it demands sustained pressure and prosecutions that dismantle the entire network, including any NGOs or consulting firms enabling or turning a blind eye to the fraud.
The American electoral process depends on integrity. When fraud like this festers in vulnerable communities, it erodes trust for everyone. Stay tuned for more as we keep pressing forward.
If you are on the inside of any government agency, federal, state, or local office and you see corruption — if you know the American people are being lied to — reach out to us. Email us at [email protected] or by phone 914-491-9395. An OMG journalist will get back to you.
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