California woman pleads guilty to paying homeless to register to vote
The Justice Department is raising alarms about voter fraud in California following a guilty plea from a woman accused of paying homeless people to register to vote and sign ballot petitions. Federal officials say the case underscores how weak state safeguards can leave both state and federal elections vulnerable to abuse.
A California man was arrested early Thursday after prosecutors said he and two others paid homeless individuals in Los Angeles’ Skid Row neighborhood to sign petitions under the stolen identities of registered voters, allegedly as part of an effort to help ballot initiatives qualify for local elections.
James Brass, 47, also known as “Lord,” was taken into federal custody in Victorville, about 85 miles northeast of Los Angeles, according to the Justice Department. Brass and two co-defendants — Courtney Price, 49, of Jacksonville, Florida, and Jateisha Herron, 33, of Boron, California — face charges of conspiracy to commit identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony.
Brass and Price also face separate charges of identity fraud in furtherance of a state felony.
A homeless encampment is seen on Skid Row in Los Angeles on Sept. 23, 2021. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
“Securing American elections from criminal interference is of the upmost importance to this FBI,” FBI Director Kash Patel told News Media. “For at least 6 months in 2026, these subjects were allegedly paying homeless people on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles to sign petitions in support of ballot initiatives, all using stolen identities of registered voters.”
“Election security will always be a top priority of this FBI,” Patel added.
Brass allegedly orchestrated the ballot harvesting scheme through the management of a team of signature collectors, as well as collecting signatures himself, federal prosecutors said.
James Brass is accused of running a scheme in which homeless people in Los Angeles’ Skid Row were paid to sign petitions to qualify ballot initiatives with the stolen identities of registered California voters. (Getty Images; Justice Department)
Price and Herron were employed by Brass, authorities said.
From February through August, the trio allegedly gathered the identities of voters from a database and handed the information to homeless people on Skid Row, a neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles that contains one of the largest concentrations of homeless people in the United States.
Tents and encampments remain visible near the Skid Row Care Campus, a taxpayer-funded facility that provides healthcare, housing assistance and harm-reduction services. (Fox 11 Los Angeles)
The homeless participants were allegedly paid to sign petitions in the names of the voters.
After the petitions were signed, Brass and Herron signed declarations at the bottom of the petitions, declaring that they personally witnessed the named registered voters sign the petitions and that each signature was, to the best of their knowledge, “the genuine signature of the person whose name it purports to be,” federal prosecutors said.
The bogus petitions were turned in by Brass and Herron to petition coordinators. In total, authorities claim Brass was paid $41,600 from one petition management company.
Bill Essayli, first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, said the alleged conduct “undermines the confidence voters have in our election systems,” adding his office “will vigorously investigate and charge anyone involved in corrupting our elections.”
All three defendants face up to five years in prison per count if convicted. Brass is expected to appear in court Thursday.