SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California election officials announced an investigation on Friday regarding allegations that signature collectors in San Francisco illegally offered payment for signing ballot petitions with false names.
The scrutiny follows the release of a video which appears to show a line of people waiting outside a signature collection station, where a woman was instructing potential signers on how to falsify their names and addresses. When questioned about the purpose of the petitions, she simply replied, Just sign it..
The California Secretary of State’s office confirmed awareness of the situation and is actively investigating the matter. In California, initiatives can qualify for ballots if they gather a significant number of signatures, and campaigns are allowed to pay individuals for each valid signature they collect, which incites some undue practices.
One petition allegedly involved a measure backed by prominent tech figures, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin, aiming to combat a proposed tax on billionaires, through a funding organization named Building a Better California. Brin contributed $20 million to support this cause.
According to spokesperson Molly Weedn for the campaign, the signature collectors were not directly affiliated with their organization. They are actively working with the authorities to invalidate any petitions gathered with false information.
“Under no circumstances do we tolerate this type of activity,” Weedn stated. “Our campaign took immediate action, and our attorneys reported the situation to the appropriate authorities.” The campaign asserted that as soon as the video was made public, they promptly notified election officials.
Another initiative also appeared in the video, which aimed to preclude taxes on retirement savings. Campaign spokesperson Nathan Click stressed that their organization does not condone any fraudulent actions during the petition-gathering process.
Click mentioned that their campaign demanded immediate action from the signature-gathering firm to identify the circulator involved and to reject any petitions submitted by that individual.
The illegality of offering payment or other incentives for ballot measure signatures is clearly defined under state election law, as stated by the Secretary of State's office. It further clarified that signatures are validated against voter registration records to ensure authenticity, with any discrepancies leading to disqualification.
Additionally, it is a crime to circulate or file initiative petitions known to contain forged names, underlining the seriousness of this investigation.
