Homeless people living on LA’s Skid Row claimed they’d been told to sign multiple registration forms, forge signatures and offered cash to fill out voter information by people working for “political partners.”
A series of videos published Thursday by TheVoiceofLA, an Instagram account known for interviews on Skid Row — the center of Los Angeles’ largest homeless community — laid out the shocking allegations.
The latest posts came the same day federal officials suspended funding to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), saying it has serious concerns about financial management and oversight.
“They’re working for political partners, yeah,” one woman interviewed said when asked if the people allegedly signing up the homeless to vote had political affiliations. “We don’t ask them, they don’t tell us,” the woman responded.
She went on to say people filling out forms were instructed not to make mistakes and were told to alter their handwriting. “Don’t let your signature look like the other signature,” she said in the video. “Can you use your other hand? Can you write with your foot? I’m serious.”
The woman further alleged that people were paid for completing forms. When asked how many ballots she would sign at once, she responded: “Four or five. It depends.”
The California Post was unable to independently verify the allegations made in the videos.
In another video posted Thursday, a woman claimed she was approached by a man while riding a train who offered to pay her to sign election-related paperwork. “I want to pay you to vote,” she recalled the man telling her.
The woman said she informed him she was not a registered voter. She said the person then followed her on the train. “He pulled out his phone and said, ‘Do you got nice penmanship?’” she said. “He showed me a name and said he wanted me to write the name on a form and sign it and he’d pay me.”
The woman said she refused. “He was trying to pay me to do voter fraud,” she said. “And I’m not doing that.”
The new allegations follow interviews published Tuesday by the same account in which multiple Skid Row residents made similar allegations. One woman claimed she had been paid to complete multiple ballots and was instructed to vary signatures.
According to several residents interviewed on camera, outreach workers allegedly visited the area three to five times a week before the election, with multiple organizations purportedly involved.
Another resident, identified as Mark Sanchez, claimed he was repeatedly approached by political canvassers.
“To sign a petition for the mayor or different things in office and they paid me $4 or $5,” Sanchez alleged.
“It happened more than four or five times.”
The videos began circulating as vote counting continued in the Los Angeles mayoral race.
The California Post was unable to independently verify the claims made in those videos as well.