California election officials opened an investigation on March 13 after a video posted on X showed signature collectors in San Francisco offering $5 to anyone who would sign ballot petitions using false names. The footage, which captured a folding‑table setup with a sign that read “Sign petition for $5,” prompted the secretary of state’s office to confirm it was “aware of, and investigating, the matter.” The probe focuses on whether the collectors violated state law that bans payment for ballot‑measure signatures.
The video, recorded on Monday, showed a line of people waiting along a sidewalk while a woman at a folding table instructed them on which name and address to use on the petition forms. When the recorder asked what the petitions were for, the woman replied, “Just sign it.” The scene was later identified by campaign officials as involving petitions for two measures backed by Building a Better California.
Building a Better California, a committee founded by Google co‑founder Sergey Brin—who has donated $20 million to the effort—has been supporting a tech‑backed ballot measure aimed at blocking a proposed tax on billionaires. A second measure, also financed by the group, seeks to prohibit a new tax on retirement savings. Campaign spokesperson Molly Weedn said the signature collectors were not directly employed by the campaign and that the campaign is cooperating with authorities to reject any petitions gathered with falsified information. “Under no circumstance do we tolerate this type of activity,” Weedn said in a statement, adding that the campaign had immediately reported the video to election officials.
California law makes it a crime to offer money or other gifts in exchange for ballot‑measure signatures, and it also criminalizes the circulation, signing, or filing of petitions that contain forged names. The secretary of state’s office noted that signatures are verified against voter‑registration records and any that do not match will not be counted. “It is also a crime to circulate, sign and/or file those signed petitions with an election official any initiative petition that is known to include forged names,” the office said.
The investigation highlights how illegal pay‑for‑signatures schemes can undermine the integrity of California’s direct‑democracy process, where initiatives must gather hundreds of thousands of verified voter signatures to qualify for the ballot. By probing the alleged fraud, state officials aim to protect the authenticity of future ballot measures and preserve public confidence in the state’s electoral system.