MARINA DEL RAY—On May 18, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Public Affairs updated a press release announcing charges against Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64 for paying unhoused individuals to register to vote. Many of those paid to take part in this scheme were living in Skid Row.
According to the DOJ, Ms. Armstrong has worked as what is referred to as a “petition circulator,” for approximately 20 years. The following came directly from the press release.
“According to her plea agreement, for approximately 20 years, Armstrong periodically worked as a “petition circulator.” In that role, she was paid by individuals and entities – known as “coordinators” – to collect voter signatures on official petitions that qualify initiatives, referendums, and recalls for California state ballots. Armstrong drove around the Los Angeles area to find registered voters to sign the petitions.
Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, of Marina del Rey, California, 64, also known as “Anika,” is charged with one felony count of paying another person to register to vote, a federal charge that carries a statutory maximum penalty of five years in federal prison.”
Reports indicate that over the last two decades, Ms. Armstrong went into the homeless communities of Los Angeles and paid the residents there two to three dollars to sign her petitions and register them to vote.
A requirement of registering to vote in California is to provide a physical home address. The address is then used to send the vote-by mail ballots. The address that Armstrong used for the petitioners’ names she gathered was her own former Los Angeles address.
Harmeet K. Dhillon, the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights for the DOJ, made the following statement.
“False registrations undermine Americans’ faith in elections, even more so when pay-offs were involved. This Justice Department is committed to ensuring that all U.S. elections are fair and free from illegal meddling, so that all Americans can accept the results with confidence.”
The FBI and investigators with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California investigated this matter.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Wheat and Nandor Kiss for the Central District of California are prosecuting this case.
