Frontlines TPUSA conducted an investigative report on petitioners getting people on Skid Row to sign petitions with the gift of a cigarette or some other item (sometimes cash) provided when signed.
An undercover reporter attempted to find out the motive of the petitioners through asking for a cigarette. The petition centered around “stricter policies on Ubers for women’s sexual harassment.”
The circulators claimed to work with the “Southern California District… in City Hall.” They eventually forced the reporter to leave the sight upon growing suspicious.
This activity of providing gifts for petition signatures is illegal per California law. In 2018, Frontlines noted, “the Los Angeles County District Attorney charged nine individuals with felony election crimes for running the exact same operation yet petitioners are still running the scheme every single day.”
According to Frontlines, Savanah Hernandez “is the 4th journalist in the latest string of independent journalists catching this organized criminal activity on the streets of Skid Row.”
Hernandez interviewed Skid Row residents who observed the tactics of the petitioners. Some homeless people are urged to sign and fake their address while signing.
James O’Keefe with O’Keefe Media Group is also covering the Skid Row petitioners and their activity, collaborating with Frontlines as well. O’Keefe, along with Frontlines, is seeking to expose “just how easily the California voting system can be exploited and defrauded.”
