UMVA has learned that a California woman was charged for paying vulnerable individuals on Los Angeles’ Skid Row to register to vote while she worked as a paid ballot‑petition signature collector.
The Department of Justice says the scheme involved offering homeless residents two to three dollars for each completed registration form, a tactic that threatens public confidence in the electoral process.
According to information obtained by UMVA, the 64‑year‑old resident of Marina del Rey, identified as “Anika” Brenda Lee Armstrong, has been accused of a felony count for compensating others to register and has agreed to plead guilty.
Armstrong’s career as a petition circulator spanned roughly two decades, during which she earned payment for every voter signature she collected, with the amount fluctuating based on the specific initiative she was promoting.
Prosecutors allege she targeted Skid Row, an area where many residents lack stable mailing addresses, and provided them with her former Los Angeles address to list on the forms, effectively registering them for both state and federal elections.
California automatically mails ballots to every registered voter, and investigators warn that some ballots may have been sent to Armstrong’s outdated address, leaving the intended recipients without access to their votes.
The felony charge carries a potential sentence of up to five years in federal prison, underscoring the seriousness with which authorities view the manipulation of voter registration.
While homeless individuals are legally eligible to register if they have a reliable mailing location and are assigned to a precinct, the alleged payments and false addresses raise profound concerns about electoral integrity.
