California election officials are investigating a disturbing allegation that petition circulators in San Francisco were paying individuals to sign ballot petitions using fake names.
According to state officials, the investigation began after a video surfaced online earlier this week showing what appears to be a sidewalk operation offering cash in exchange for signatures on ballot petitions, News4Jax reported.
The footage, posted Monday on X, shows a sign reading “Sign petition for $5” with a line of people waiting along a San Francisco sidewalk.
At a nearby folding table, a woman appears to be instructing individuals on what name and address to use while filling out the petitions.
When the person recording the video asked what the petitions were for, the woman simply responded: “Just sign it.”
The video quickly went viral and caught the attention of California election authorities.
In a statement Friday, the California Secretary of State’s office confirmed it is actively investigating the matter.
“We are aware of, and investigating, the matter,” the office said.
WATCH:
CA ELECTION PROBE: A video filmed in San Francisco appears to show petition signature collectors offering $5 for signatures and telling people to sign for proposed ballot initiatives with OTHER VOTERS’ names.
The California Secretary of State’s office says it has opened an… pic.twitter.com/SPklj2zy9m
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 11, 2026
At least one of the petitions seen in the video was for a tech-backed ballot measure to fight a proposed tax on billionaires . It’s funded by Building a Better California, a committee started by wealthy business leaders including Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who gave $20 million.
The signature collectors were not directly working for the campaign, said Molly Weedn, a spokesperson for the effort. The campaign was cooperating with authorities to reject the petitions collected with falsified information, she said.
“Under no circumstance do we tolerate this type of activity,” Weedn said in a statement. “Our campaign took immediate action and campaign attorneys reported to authorities.”
She said the campaign notified elections officials as soon as the video surfaced.
Another ballot petition funded by Building a Better California for a measure to prohibit new tax on retirement savings also appeared in the video. Spokesperson Nathan Click said the campaign “does not tolerate fraudulent activity in any signature-gathering process.”
“As soon as we became aware of the activities in question, we demanded that our signature-gathering firm identify the petition circulator, reject any and all petitions submitted by this circulator,” Click said in a statement.
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