(TNND) — A California woman admitted to paying homeless people in Los Angeles’ Skid Row area to register to vote and sign political petitions, according to federal prosecutors.
Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64, acknowledged in a plea agreement that she worked as a paid petition circulator and targeted homeless individuals while gathering signatures throughout Los Angeles.
According to court documents cited by The Washington Times, Armstrong carried voter registration forms and paid individuals between $2 and $3 after they registered and signed petitions she was circulating.
Prosecutors said Armstrong sometimes encouraged people without permanent addresses to use one of her former addresses on registration paperwork. Because California conducts elections primarily by mail, multiple ballots were allegedly sent to that address.
Armstrong agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of paying someone to register to vote, federal authorities said.
“False registrations undermine Americans’ faith in elections — even more so when payoffs are involved,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement quoted by The Washington Times.
Authorities said Armstrong had worked as a signature gatherer for roughly two decades. Investigators said petition coordinators paid circulators only for valid voter registrations, meaning the individuals had to be registered California voters.
Federal prosecutors did not disclose how many registrations or petition signatures were involved in the case.
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The Washington Times reported that state officials were contacted for comment.