A group of Spencer Pratt volunteers say they’ve received more ballots sent to Skid Row — but fewer have voted in the Los Angeles mayoral race.
The California Post joined four members of the “Pratt Pack” on Sunday as they spent hours touring the area.
They asked a lot of local people about voter registration, postal voting and petition collectors who have worked in the district for years trying to get them to vote.
It comes a week after Pratt was kicked out of the mayoral race after Karen Bass won and Nithya Raman received a landslide majority of mail-in votes.
Susan Collins, a candidate for the California State Senate who was part of the “Pratt Pack” on Sunday, told The Post: “What we’re finding is that a lot of people are registered to vote, a lot of ballots are being sent, and nobody actually voted.”
The California Post’s own investigation revealed thousands of voter registrations.
A review of public records identified more than 7,600 registered voters connected to shelters, supportive housing projects, addiction treatment centers and social services, including 1,160 registered voters connected to Night Mission on Skid Row.
A longtime local told volunteers Sunday that she personally knew the Marina del Rey woman who was recently charged by federal prosecutors with paying homeless people to register to vote.
Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, known as “Anika,” was charged in May with paying someone else to register to vote.
According to federal prosecutors, Armstrong worked for years as a paid petition clerk collecting signatures on California ballot measures and agreed to plead guilty.
“He was right here. This was his place,” Thadeus Brown told the volunteers. Brown said people are often offered money or cigarettes to sign forms.
“He would give them $3 to $5. Some of the cheaper people would give them $2 and a cigarette,” he said. But Brown’s account echoed a theme the volunteers said came up repeatedly throughout the day: residents remembering to register to vote.
They remember the petitioners. What many don’t remember was actually voting.
Volunteers pass through tents, shelters, service centers and roadsides, interviewing residents about their experiences with the drives.
“A lot of people have never voted,” Brown said. “They signed up, but they just wanted names.”
For Collins, who has spent years raising concerns about polling practices, the most striking part of Sunday’s visit was hearing the same story repeated over and over again.
“So what I’ve been hearing from a lot of people is that they should register to vote,” said Collins. “I haven’t found anyone who actually voted.”
“The big question now is what happened to all those votes,” Collins said. “People remember getting them. They don’t remember voting. Where do the votes go?”
Ann Juliano, who was visiting Skid Row for the first time, described the experience as an eye-opener and said it strengthened her determination to stay involved rather than watch from afar.
“It was really intense,” Juliano said. “We saw a boy chasing another boy with a shovel and attacking him.”
Juliano said he came to Skid Row looking for answers, convinced there was more to the election than voters were being told.
“I think being here is part of trying to figure out what happened. The numbers don’t make sense. That’s why I’m going deeper than sitting on the sidelines.”
“The thing I would like to say is that I think this election has changed Los Angeles forever,” he said. “At least that’s my hope, that people will feel empowered to keep telling the truth and keep looking for the truth.”
