A California woman accused of paying people, including those facing homelessness in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Skid Row, to register to vote has been charged, federal prosecutors say.
Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, of Marina del Rey, California, 64 — a longtime signature collector for ballot initiatives — was charged with one felony count of paying another person to register to vote, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a Monday, May 18 news release.
Armstrong has agreed to plead guilty, prosecutors said.
“False registrations undermine Americans’ faith in elections – even more so when payoffs are involved,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in the release. “This Justice Department is committed to ensuring that all U.S. elections are fair and free from illegal meddling – so that all Americans can accept the results with confidence.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office took to X to comment on the matter.
“As we said when this was first discovered, anyone caught engaging in this activity should be investigated and prosecuted,” Newsom’s press office said of the case.
An attorney representing Armstrong did not immediately respond to a request for comment on May 19.
Before appearing in court for arraignment on Monday, May 18, Armstrong told The California Post she was “confused.”
“I didn’t think what I was doing was really bad,” Armstrong told The California Post. “I’ve never been in this predicament before in my life.”
What officials say happened
For the past two decades, Armstrong periodically worked as a “petition circulator,” in which she was paid by “coordinators” to collect signatures for “petitions to qualify initiatives, referendums, and recalls for state ballots,” officials said in her plea agreement.
In her capacity as a “petition circulator,” Armstrong would travel throughout the Central District of California in search of registered voters to sign petitions, the plea agreement says. Upon gathering enough signatures, Armstrong would return those signatures to “coordinators,” who would pay for each registered voter signature. The amount she received for signatures was dependent on the specific ballot initiatives.
As the coordinators would only provide her payment for signatures from registered voters, Armstrong would ensure those signing petitions were registered voters, officials said.
One location Armstrong frequently visited to collect signatures was the Skid Row neighborhood of downtown Los Angeles, according to her plea agreement.
“There, she would solicit individuals to sign her petitions, many of whom were homeless,” officials said. “Skid Row was a convenient place to collect signatures because there was a high concentration of people in a relatively small area, and they were willing to sign petitions in exchange for payment.”
Officials said Armstrong would frequently pay people between $2 and $3 to persuade them to sign. She is also accused of using other incentives, such as cigarettes or phone cords, to entice people to provide their signatures.
Many people in Skid Row, however, were not registered to vote in the state or registered voters at all. As such, officials said, when Armstrong submitted signatures to her “coordinators,” they would only provide her with partial payment.
To remedy this, Armstrong, starting no later than 2025, began informing those signing her petitions that they must be registered voters.
Before she ventured to Skid Row, “Armstrong would gather a stack of voter registration forms from the Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters,” officials said.
“Then, when she encountered an individual, she would offer payment, not only to sign her petition, but also to complete a voter registration form if they were not already registered to vote,” the plea agreement says.
On several occasions when Armstrong encountered individuals who were unable to provide an address, she gave them her former Los Angeles address to include on the voter registration form, according to officials.
While it is legal under California law to pay someone to collect signatures, it is illegal for anyone offer money in exchange for signatures from voters. It is also illegal for anyone to sign another person’s name or provide false information on a petition.
However, as part of Armstrong’s plea deal, prosecutors agreed to only pursue the one felony charge against her and to not bring up additional criminal charges stemming from her alleged actions.
Submitting those forms would register individuals for both state and federal elections, officials said. Then, as the state mails ballots to registered voters, ballots that included those individuals’ names would be sent to Armstrong’s former residence despite that she no longer resided there.
On Jan. 30, Armstrong is accused of paying another person to register to vote with the intent of having the individual register to vote in federal elections, the plea agreement says.
The federal charge Armstrong is facing carries a statutory maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.
Can a homeless person register vote in California?
In California, people facing homelessness can register vote, so long as they have a location where they can receive mail and be properly assigned to a voting precinct, according to the California Secretary of State.
“You may register to vote at an address where you spend most of your time, such as a shelter,” state officials say.
If you are not able to use an address when registering to vote, “you must describe the location where you live so it is clear enough for your county elections official to find your voting precinct,” according to state officials.
“You may use cross streets or a park as your address,” state officials say. “This ensures thatyou can receive accurate elections materials based on where you live.”
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: California woman paid homeless people to register to vote, feds say
Reporting by Daniella Segura, USA TODAY NETWORK / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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