The California Secretary of State is investigating an incident captured in a social media video that appears to show signature gathers in San Francisco offering bystanders money to sign petitions for ballot initiatives using other people’s identities — including the first and last name of an Avila Beach resident.
Street videographer Omar Ward posted the now viral video to his jj smith X account on Monday afternoon. The nearly two-minute clip shows a white board resting on a city sidewalk that says “Sign petition for $5.” The video then pans to show more than a dozen people waiting in line to sign the petitions.
In the clip, a signature collector is seen advising people how to fill out the petitions using names and addresses that appear to be different from their own. When Ward asks from behind the camera what the petition is, the collector says “just sign it.”…