Overview
- State election officials opened investigations after videos in San Francisco and Los Angeles showed petition circulators offering cash and other incentives and instructing people to use false names or addresses.
- The California Secretary of State said signatures are verified against voter registration records and that paying for petition signatures or filing petitions known to include forged names is illegal.
- Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office called the recorded conduct a felony and urged that those responsible be investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
- At least one petition seen in the footage was tied to measures funded by Building a Better California, whose representatives said the circulator was not affiliated, reported the matter to authorities, and pushed vendors to reject that person’s submissions.
- O’Keefe Media Group’s report alleges involvement by the vendor Populus Inc. and references staff at the Weingart Center directing people to petition sites, claims that remain allegations in the current reporting.