A 47-year-old California petition worker has been charged with identity fraud for an alleged scheme involving forged signatures on ballot petitions. According to prosecutors, James Brass orchestrated the operation with two signature collectors, 49-year-old Courtney Price and 33-year-old Jateisha Herron.
California law requires proponents of proposed statutes or constitutional amendments to gather a specified number of signatures by a deadline in order to place measures on the ballot. Brass was contracted by an unidentified petition management company that paid him for each signature collected. The grand jury indictment alleges that the trio traveled across Southern California, including to downtown Los Angeles’ Skid Row—an area with a large homeless population—to recruit participants for the scheme.
According to the indictment, the group obtained names and personal information of registered voters from public databases and then instructed individuals on Skid Row to use those voters’ identities when signing the petitions. Prosecutors allege that Brass took steps to conceal the origin of the signatures, instructing Herron to reference Inglewood and Torrance rather than downtown Los Angeles as collection locations. The indictment states that Brass received $41,000 from the operation.
All three individuals face charges of conspiracy to commit identity fraud, while Brass and Herron were also charged with identity fraud counts. Brass has pleaded not guilty and is out of custody on a $10,000 bond. Prosecutor Bill Essayli stated that the alleged conduct “undermines the confidence voters have in our election systems.”
The case follows a similar incident in which 64-year-old Brenda Armstrong pleaded guilty to paying individuals on Skid Row to register as voters and sign petitions. Additionally, San Francisco canvassers reportedly offered cash and food to homeless people in the Tenderloin neighborhood this year in exchange for petition signatures, with exchanges documented in viral social media videos and prompting a city investigation.
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