California launches probe after video shows petition gatherers offering money for signatures

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California election officials said Friday they were investigating whether signature gatherers in San Francisco illegally offered to pay people to sign ballot petitions using fake names.

A video posted Monday by X shows a sign reading “Sign a petition for $5” and a line of people waiting along the sidewalk. A woman seated at a folding table appears to indicate the name and address to use to fill out the petition. When the person recording asked what the petitions were for, the woman replied, “Just sign it.”

The California Secretary of State’s office said in a statement that it was “aware of and investigating the matter.”

In California, citizens can place measures on the ballot to gain voter approval by gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures. Campaigns can pay people per signature collected, giving workers an incentive to get as many as possible.

At least one of the petitions seen in the video was for a technology-based ballot measure to combat a proposed billionaires tax. It’s funded by Building a Better California, a committee created by wealthy business leaders, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who donated $20 million.

The signature gatherers did not work directly for the campaign, said Molly Weedn, a spokeswoman for the effort. The campaign is cooperating with authorities to reject petitions collected with falsified information, she said.

“We do not condone this type of activity in any way,” Weedn said in a statement. “Our campaign took immediate action and campaign attorneys reported to authorities. »

She said the campaign notified election officials as soon as the video surfaced.

Another petition funded by Building a Better California for a measure to ban a new tax on retirement savings also appeared in the video. Spokesman Nathan Click said the campaign “does not tolerate fraudulent activity in any signature collection process.”

“As soon as we became aware of the activities in question, we demanded that our signature collection company identify the petition distributor and reject all petitions submitted by that distributor,” Click said in a statement.

Numerous petitions were brought to the table, and it is unclear whether they were aimed at additional campaigns.

Offering money or other gifts in exchange for signatures on a ballot is illegal under state election law, the secretary of state’s office said. Petition signatures are reviewed and verified against voter registration records, and those that do not match will not be counted.

“It is also a crime to circulate, sign and/or file these signed petitions with an election official, any initiative petition that is known to contain false names,” the office said in a statement.

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Associated Press reporter Sophie Austin contributed.