A video appeared to show a group in San Francisco illegally offering strangers $5 in exchange for their signatures on a state ballot initiative — even giving one participant a name and address to use on the form.
The video, captured by Xuser JJ Smith, shows a crowd of people near downtown San Francisco standing in line to add their names to the paperwork.
When the person filming asks why they are there, a man responds: “It’s for signing a petition. You get five bucks to sign a petition.”
Later, a woman at a table where the paperwork is being handed out can be heard instructing someone to sign the name Carol Sanderson of Avila Beach.
A petition circulated byBuilding a Better California— abillionaire-backed ballot initiativethat aims to prohibit taxes on personal wealth — is visible in the video.
“To be clear, we absolutely do not tolerate this or any type of fraudulent activity in the signature-gathering process,” said Abby Lunardini, a spokesperson for Building a Better California, backed by Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
“The campaigns have demanded that the signature-gathering agency identify the circulator and reject any petitions that are received from that circulator.”
🎥Mar09 2026 1:54pm Location6th & MissionThese people are paying people $5 dollars to sign a ballot, but as you watch the video their telling them what name to sign (which is someone else name) and what address to write. Seems kind of suspicious to me. Why not sign your own…pic.twitter.com/GIHdLHaHCl
The Post is told that the fraudulent signature gatherers were paying for ink for other petitions as well.
“They are also alerting the appropriate authorities,” Lunardini added, referring to those campaigns.
Source: California Post – Breaking California News, Photos & Videos
