‘They Paid Me to Vote’: Homeless Residents Make Explosive Claims After Pratt’s Loss

As questions continue to swirl around Los Angeles’ mayoral election, newly surfaced videos show homeless individuals on Skid Row claiming they were paid cash to vote for Mayor Karen Bass.

The allegations emerged just days after Republican Spencer Pratt lost a runoff spot as thousands of late-counted mail-in ballots shifted the race.

In an interview on Skid Row posted to X on June 9, one homeless woman claimed she was paid $2 to vote for Bass. “They come out here all the time [to get votes],” she said.

In a separate interview posted this week, another woman on Skid Row claimed she was paid $5 and instructed to vote for Bass.

A third interview featured a man who claimed individuals regularly visit Skid Row to collect personal information from homeless residents in exchange for cash, then use that information to cast ballots.

“They come down here to get your information, then they vote for you—some people will give you three bucks, some five,” said one man living on Skid Row. 

Following the final vote count, LA City Councilwoman Nithya Raman finished ahead of Pratt by 29,368 votes, knocking him out of the race.

Pratt has publicly questioned the results. In a post on X, he noted that Raman’s vote total increased by roughly 43,000 votes as mail-in ballots continued to be counted after Election Day, a figure he compared to widely cited estimates of Los Angeles’ homeless population.

This isn’t the first time allegations involving payments to homeless individuals for political activity have surfaced in Los Angeles.

Earlier this month, 64-year-old Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong pleaded guilty in federal court to paying people on Skid Row to sign election-related petitions.

According to O’Keefe Media Group, its undercover investigation helped expose Armstrong’s activities. The organization recorded Armstrong allegedly offering cash payments in exchange for petition signatures and later provided evidence to law enforcement authorities.

According to court records cited by the Epoch Times, Armstrong worked for years as a paid petition circulator, collecting signatures for ballot initiatives, referendums, and recall efforts.

The publication reported that Armstrong specifically targeted Skid Row because of its “high concentration of people in a relatively small area who were willing to sign petitions in exchange for cash.”

In a statement to the Daily Signal, O’Keefe Media Group said the latest allegations should be taken seriously.

“Where there’s smoke there’s fire, and we found that fire with Brenda Lee Armstrong on Skid Row. She is not the only person doing these election crimes,” the group said.

O’Keefe Media Group also encouraged concerned voters to visit Skid Row themselves.

“Go to Fifth or Sixth Street–you’d be amazed what you can find on Skid Row in general. What we did was we went down to Skid Row and filmed Brenda and some of her masked colleagues trying to pay people to register to vote, sign petitions fraudulently, and using other real voters’ names.”

Longtime pollster Stefani Buhajla told the Daily Signal that the allegations warrant further scrutiny.

“The allegations against Karen Bass’ campaign are serious and should be investigated thoroughly,” she said. “One thing we do know is that homeless encampments are hotbeds for crime, gang activity, and corruption, and politicians exploiting the vulnerable populations … for gain, while repugnant, is not new. Elected leaders should be focused on compassionate solutions to this crisis, not taking advantage of it.”

The allegations have added to ongoing debate surrounding the mayoral election, particularly among voters already skeptical of California’s lengthy ballot-counting process.

One data analysis widely shared on social media, including by Elon Musk, questioned how Raman overtook Pratt after Election Day despite underperforming in certain precincts.

Neither Bass nor Raman has publicly addressed the allegations made in the videos. Neither of the candidates’ campaigns returned the Daily Signal’s request for comment.