DOJ Leverages Skid Row ‘Cash-for-Ballots’ Scheme to Demand Full Audit of California Voter Rolls

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that a Marina del Rey woman has agreed to plead guilty to a federal charge of paying individuals, including homeless people on Skid Row, to register to vote using false or vague addresses, a scheme prosecutors say spanned approximately 20 years.

Court documents state Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64, also known as “Anika,” paid individuals small amounts of cash, cigarettes, or other items to complete voter registration forms, often using her former address or nonspecific locations. She faces one felony count under 52 U.S.C. § 10307(c) for paying another person to register to vote. The charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $10,000 fine.

The case originated from undercover videos released by James O’Keefe and O’Keefe Media Group. As this outlet reported, it was citizen journalism–not the Secretary of State, county Registrar of Voters, congressional representatives, city officials, or nearby “nonprofits” that exposed the long-running operation.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Civil Rights Division and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli for the Central District of California announced the plea agreement at a news conference. 

Essayli stated: “This is not an allegation, this is not a theory, this is an example of admitted voter fraud.” He noted the conduct involved both illegal payments for registration and the use of false information on forms. 

Essayli tied the case directly to the DOJ’s broader efforts to obtain access to California’s voter registration records, indicating the admitted scheme demonstrates vulnerabilities and supports demands for greater transparency and auditing of voter rolls. He said the state should take note of the charges against Armstrong and welcome the audit “with an open arm.” (emphasis added)

The thing we were told never happens, happened on Skid Row for 20 years

For two decades, one woman allegedly manufactured registrations to support her paid signature-gathering work. This admitted criminal conduct underscores the very real problem of voter fraud that Democrats and aligned groups long dismissed as a myth. 

When that claim no longer held water, the narrative shifted to assertions that fraud is neither systemic nor widespread, with groups like the Brennan Center for Justice repeatedly claiming voter fraud “does not happen on a scale even close to necessary to ‘rig’ an election” and “would not have come close to changing the outcome” of major races. 

Yet even small numbers of fraudulent registrations can decisively sway non-major elections, such as city council races, and state assembly and senate races decided by just a handful of votes, or closely contested ballot initiatives that shape policy for millions.

On LA’s Skid Row, a single individual’s long-running operation highlights how such criminal activity can proliferate when safeguards are ignored, weak, or nonexistent.

Dirty Voter Rolls Yield Dirty Elections 

In September 2025, the DOJ sued California and multiple other states for failing to provide full voter registration rolls. A federal court dismissed the lawsuit against California in January 2026. The DOJ has appealed that dismissal to the Ninth Circuit, with oral arguments scheduled for Tuesday.

In December 2025, the DOJ filed a lawsuit against Nevada Secretary of State Francisco “Cisco” Aguilar for refusing to provide un-redacted voter rolls after delays and incomplete responses. That case remains pending. 

In Arizona, a federal judge dismissed the DOJ’s lawsuit seeking detailed voter registration records in April 2026. It is not yet known whether the DOJ has appealed that ruling.

The Department of Justice has filed federal lawsuits against approximately 30 states and Washington, D.C., seeking full statewide voter registration lists, including “sensitive” data such as dates of birth, addresses, and partial Social Security numbers. 

Federal district courts have dismissed DOJ lawsuits in multiple states, including California, Oregon, Michigan, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Arizona. The DOJ has appealed certain rulings, with additional cases still pending.

Within the last week, The Globe has been contacted by families in Nevada and Oklahoma who received California ballots. In the Nevada case, a registered Democrat who moved from the Bay Area to Northern Nevada in 2022 continues to receive a California ballot every year. The Globe encouraged the family to submit the cancellation form on the Secretary of State’s website, despite state law requiring the removal of voters who have not voted in two elections.

California Globe will continue to track the sentencing in this case and developments in the DOJ’s voter roll litigation.