DOJ is investigating voter fraud in Michigan
Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant US Attorney General for Civil Rights, discusses the DOJ's investigation into voter fraud in Wayne County, Michigan, citing incidents of fraudulent voting and noncompliance with the Help America Vote Act.
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The Justice Department has charged a California woman with paying people — including homeless people on Los Angeles' Skid Row — to register to vote while working as a paid signature gatherer, according to federal prosecutors.
“False registration undermines the American people's faith in elections — especially when it's profitable,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said in a press release Monday.
“This Department of Justice is committed to ensuring that all US elections are fair and free from illegal interference – so that all Americans can accept the results with confidence,” added Dhillon.
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The DOJ charged a California woman with paying people, including homeless people on Skid Row, to register to vote. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Marina del Rey resident “Anika” Brenda Lee Armstrong, 64, solicited signatures for legal voting systems, including in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles, that typically pay people between $2 and $3, according to the DOJ.
He was charged with one count of paying someone else to register to vote and agreed to plead guilty, according to the DOJ. Armstrong made his first court appearance on Monday.
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Armstrong was charged with paying someone else to register to vote and could face up to five years in federal prison. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Armstrong worked as a “petitioner” for about 20 years, and would receive payment for the signature of each registered voter, according to his request.
The amount he was paid varied depending on the particular voting system. Fox News Digital reached out to the DOJ to clarify which programs and groups Armstrong was soliciting and how much he was paid.
Many members of the Skid Row homeless community were not registered to vote, so prosecutors say Armstrong brought voter registration forms and began paying people to fill them out.
Prosecutors said Armstrong sometimes gave his former Los Angeles address to homeless people to list on voter registration forms, registering to vote in California and federal elections.
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“False registration undermines the American people's faith in elections — even more so when it's profitable,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
California automatically mails ballots to all registered voters, and prosecutors say ballots in other people's names may have been sent to Armstrong's residence, where those people didn't live or didn't follow the mail.
Armstrong is charged with conspiring to register to vote and could face up to five years in federal prison.
Investigative journalist James O'Keefe took the initiative to win the case, citing O'Keefe Media Group as the first to photograph the alleged Skid Row event.
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Homeless people are eligible to register to vote as long as they have a place where the mail can be received and are “properly placed at the polls,” according to the California Secretary of State.
Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of the California governor and state attorney general for further comment on the matter on Monday.
