A Marina Del Rey woman who worked as a signature gatherer for California ballot measures agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of paying another person to register to vote, federal prosecutors announced Monday, May 18.
As a petition circulator for about 20 years, Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64, “collect[ed] voter signatures on official petitions that qualify initiatives, referendums, and recalls for California state ballots…dr[iving] around the Los Angeles area to find registered voters to sign the petitions.”
She would be paid for each signature, different amounts depending on the ballot initiative.
“She would sometimes find that the signatures would be disqualified because the people signing these signature petitions weren’t actually registered to vote,” Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, said.
In order for Armstrong to get paid, signers needed to be registered voters, so she began to bring along voter registration forms when she went to Skid Row, starting in 2025, to “maximize her pay,” according to prosecutors.
She would typically pay $2-$3 for signatures and would sometimes give people phone cards or cigarettes, prosecutors said.
When people she encountered did not have an address, she would provide them with the address of her own former Los Angeles residence to register with, Dhillon said at a press conference Monday.
An investigation into Armstrong began after authorities were alerted to a video that showed people on Skid Row being paid to sign a petition, United States Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said. The video was circulated by political activist James O’Keefe’s media group.
Essayli called for the state of California to turn over voter rolls as the Department of Justice is seeking in a lawsuit against the state, which will be argued in federal appeals court on Tuesday, May 19.
Armstrong agreed to plead guilty and admitted to the charge, Dhillon said. Armstrong faces 5 years in prison, 3 years supervised release and a fine of $10,000. She was scheduled to appear in Santa Ana court Monday and expected to plead guilty in the coming weeks, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors do not allege she acted for or against any particular political party.