LOS ANGELES — A woman who worked as a longtime signature collector for ballot initiatives is set to plead guilty Monday to paying homeless people in Los Angeles’ Skid Row and elsewhere $2 or $3 to register to vote.
Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64, of Marina del Rey, also known as “Anika,” has agreed to enter a plea to one count of paying another person to register to vote, a federal charge that carries a penalty of up to five years behind bars.
According to her plea agreement, for nearly 20 years, Armstrong periodically worked as a “petition circulator.” In that role, she was paid by coordinators to collect voter signatures on official petitions that qualify initiatives, referendums and recalls for California state ballots. Prosecutors said Armstrong drove around the Los Angeles area to find registered voters to sign the petitions…