Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

O’Keefe Media Group Undercover Investigation Exposes Cash-for-Ballots Election Fraud Scheme Targeting Homeless on LA’s Skid Row
California Globe ^ | 3/20/26 | Megan Barth

Posted on 03/20/2026 8:27:41 PM PDT by Bullish

Homeless individuals were allegedly bribed with cash, cigarettes, and marijuana in exchange for signing voter registration forms and ballot petitions — often using fake addresses

Independent investigative journalist James O’Keefe and his team at O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) have released explosive undercover footage documenting what appears to be widespread voter registration and petition fraud on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, where homeless individuals were allegedly bribed with cash, cigarettes, and marijuana in exchange for signing voter registration forms and ballot petitions — often using fake addresses.

The investigation, titled “CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS FRAUD CASH FOR BALLOTS PART I,” captured at least 28 instances of petitioners exchanging payments for signatures in just days of filming. Petition circulators openly admitted on hidden camera that they are paid $7 to $10 per signature, with some boasting daily earnings exceeding $1,000. Many of the homeless signers appeared unaware of the petitions’ content or purpose.

WATCH: (video at link)

“You can just put Pinocchio Lane,” one circulator recommended as a home address to an undercover journalist posing as homeless. Another instructed, “Oh, you can just fake an address.”

Footage shows employees at the taxpayer-funded Weingart Center — which has received hundreds of millions in public grants — directing homeless individuals across the street to the petitioners and coaching them on plausible deniability.

Intake coordinator Jason Warren reportedly said: “Most time they be right across the street, under that tree… Monday through Friday.” Another Weingart staffer advised: “See they say ignorance is no excuse for the law. But a lot of times, I have to say ‘I didn’t know, I had no idea.’”

The petitions being circulated by workers for Populus Inc. (a firm tied to funders including Uber, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and the American Hotel & Lodging Association) included proposals to impose a 5% tax on billionaires for healthcare and to overturn Los Angeles’ $30 minimum wage ordinance for hotel and airline workers ahead of the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics. One circulator was recorded telling a signer: “We have one that taxes billionaires 5%. One-time tax. 5% and that’s gonna go towards healthcare.”

Paying for signatures or voter registration is a clear violation of both California Elections Code §18603 and federal law under 52 U.S.C. §10307(c), which prohibits offering anything of value to induce voter registration or petition signatures — a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and fines. Yet when confronted during the OMG investigation, nearby LAPD officers reportedly dismissed the activity as “a civil lawsuit type thing.”

According to OMG, this is not the first time such activity has surfaced on Skid Row. In 2016, nine individuals were arrested for exchanging cash and cigarettes for signatures; in 2019, they faced 14 counts under the exact same California statute.

First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California responded directly to the revelations, stating: “Nothing is more important than the integrity of our elections. The conduct and allegations captured on video undermine confidence in our election system here in California.”

Nothing is more important than the integrity of our elections. The conduct and allegations captured on video undermine confidence in our election system here in California.

Under 52 U.S.C. § 10307(c), it is a federal crime to provide false information on a voter registration… https://t.co/aXEyk1r903

— F.A. United States Attorney Bill Essayli (@USAttyEssayli) March 17, 2026

Essayli assured the public that under Attorney General Pam Bondi, the DOJ “will aggressively pursue anyone and everyone involved in violating federal election laws.” Part II of the OMG investigation is forthcoming.

The California Globe has long documented systemic vulnerabilities in California’s election system that enable such fraud. As we reported in 2020, two Los Angeles County men were arrested and charged with 41 counts — including conspiracy to commit voter fraud — after allegedly submitting over 8,000 fake voter registration applications on behalf of homeless individuals to boost one suspect’s mayoral bid in Hawthorne.

California’s voter rolls have also been plagued by massive discrepancies, with the state showing 1.8 million more registered voters than eligible citizens according to a bombshell analysis the Globe covered in 2021.

These issues underscore why grassroots efforts are crucial for election integrity reforms — such as the Voter ID initiative that surpassed one million signatures and will appear on the 2026 ballot.

The OMG footage provides irrefutable evidence of the very fraud California officials have repeatedly downplayed. With federal prosecutors now on notice, the question remains: Will this lead to actual arrests and accountability, or will Skid Row’s cash-for-ballots operation continue unchecked?

The full undercover video and supporting documentation are available via O’Keefe Media Group.

California Globe will continue to monitor developments and the forthcoming series of reports from this OMG investigation.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections; US: California
KEYWORDS: 2016; 2016election; 2019; 2020; 2020election; 2021; 2026; 2026election; 2028; ahla; california; cash; ccp; cheating; cigarettes; corruption; crime; deltaairlines; drugs; election; elections; fakevoters; fraud; homeless; homelessness; jamesokeefe; lacell; losangeles; marijuana; okeefe; okeefemediagroup; padilla; populus; populusinc; rigging; tampering; taxfundedcheating; taxfundedcrime; uber; unitedairlines; votefraud; voterapplications; voterfraud; voterregistration; voterregistrations; weingart; weingartcenter; worldcup

Click here: to donate by Credit Card

Or here: to donate by PayPal

Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794

Thank you very much and God bless you.


1 posted on 03/20/2026 8:27:41 PM PDT by Bullish
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Bullish

Nick Shirley is single handedly, inadvertantly leaving the O’Keefe Media Group in the dust!


2 posted on 03/20/2026 8:32:31 PM PDT by lee martell
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bullish

Demoncrat fraud being exposed also includes their CCP operatives:
“The United States expressed outrage when Great Britain revealed two years ago that its voter registration databases were hacked by China in what became a global scandal. But it turns out the U.S. intelligence harbored its own secret at the time, knowing since 2020 that Beijing also gained access to American voter registration data”
https://justthenews.com/government/security/us-intel-has-known-2020-china-gained-access-us-voter-files-memos-show


3 posted on 03/20/2026 8:34:34 PM PDT by doc maverick
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lee martell; bitt; Kathy in Alaska; ransomnote; LS; null and void

Greasy NewSCUM’s cohort Senator Padilla

Greg Gutfeld: A senator appears to cry crocodile tears

https://www.foxnews.com/video/6374557735112

WATCH: Alex Padilla Dodges Reporter’s Questions Amid Explosive Voter Fraud Sting

https://patriotfetch.com/2026/03/california-election-fraud-investigation-okefe-media-group/

Padilla Refuses To Answer

https://x.com/RealLindellTV/status/2034330340622541096

@RealLindellTV.@SenAlexPadilla

Won’t Answer for California’s Cash-for-Ballot Scandal

Every state must be examined for voter fraud; EVERY state.

Pakistanis Who Have Never Been to US Are Voting in California Elections from Inside Pakistan

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/02/pakistanis-who-have-never-been-us-are-voting/

San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Captain says voting records show people outside of the country, in Pakistan, are allowed to vote in the California elections.

The Sheriff’s Captain revealed this during a press conference in Sept 2025.

How many CA politicians are in office illegally via voter fraud for how many years? That would make every law and regulation null and void because they were in office illegally as well as the Dictator Greasy NewSCUM.

BTW, this isn’t just a California issue, voter fraud is being used in EVERY state, wanna bet?


4 posted on 03/20/2026 8:38:46 PM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Bullish

Ain’t Communism wonderful.


5 posted on 03/20/2026 8:51:44 PM PDT by bray (Thank God for Israel)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bray

The video is quite unbelievable...

Democrats in congress swear up and down every day that this kind of stuff doesn’t go on.


6 posted on 03/20/2026 8:58:55 PM PDT by Bullish (My tagline ran off with another man, but it's okay... I wasn't married to it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Bullish

No wonder Newscum’s policies increased the homeless population.


7 posted on 03/20/2026 10:00:12 PM PDT by Henry Hnyellar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lee martell

It is not a competition. God has blessed us with both men and their work, let us be grateful and build both of them up, rather than pit one against the other or bring any down.

We spend far too much time eating our own.


8 posted on 03/21/2026 12:26:45 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Fedora

“You can just put Pinocchio Lane,” one circulator recommended as a home address to an undercover journalist posing as homeless. Another instructed, “Oh, you can just fake an address.”

Footage shows employees at the taxpayer-funded Weingart Center — which has received hundreds of millions in public grants — directing homeless individuals across the street to the petitioners and coaching them on plausible deniability.

Intake coordinator Jason Warren reportedly said: “Most time they be right across the street, under that tree… Monday through Friday.” Another Weingart staffer advised: “See they say ignorance is no excuse for the law. But a lot of times, I have to say ‘I didn’t know, I had no idea.’”

The petitions being circulated by workers for Populus Inc. …


9 posted on 03/21/2026 12:30:53 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Henry Hnyellar

We recalled this guy. If there wasn’t cheating, California might have a chance. Without voter ID and confirmation of each voter, elections will remain under question and are likely a free for all like what happens in Detroit.


10 posted on 03/21/2026 12:33:00 AM PDT by pterional
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Bullish

I can hear Newscum now - “I spent a few years living on skid row...”


11 posted on 03/21/2026 4:50:23 AM PDT by trebb (So many fools - so little time...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Bullish

Dems are trying hard to get votes at other peoples expense.


12 posted on 03/21/2026 8:03:17 AM PDT by chopperk (,)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson