A series of shocking new videos claiming have emerged claiming to show a number of homeless residents on Los Angeles’ Skid Row confessing to being paid to vote for Mayor Karen Bass and Nithya Raman.
The California Post received copies of the videos after they were published on TikTok account LaneNeedsSpencerPratt on Tuesday.
The clips, which were recorded by a content creator who has closely followed the mayoral campaign, in an area near 7th Street and Flower Street on Tuesday morning. The creator said he went to the area after being alerted by a friend who works nearby, who had watched party volunteers working the area in the lead up to the election.
One of the homeless, Kevin Shepherd, claimed he received $4 to vote for Bass.
When pressed if he also would get money if he voted for far-left LA Councilwoman Nithya Raman, he said yes, and that Spencer Pratt wasn’t one of the options.
He said he signed the mail-in ballot to vote for the incumbent and dropped it in the box.
“Everybody said it was normal,” the content creator told The Post.
“They said people came through all the time.”
The content creator claimed that during about two hours on the ground he spoke to multiple residents.
Many of whom described voter registration and outreach efforts as a routine part of life in the neighborhood before Election Day.
Several people said groups regularly came through the area asking residents to sign paperwork, but acknowledged they did not always understand what they were signing.
One woman who said she supported Bass told him she still did not fully understand some of the paperwork she had been asked to complete.
According to residents interviewed, outreach workers visited the area as often as three to five times a week before the election. Several said multiple organizations appeared to be involved.
One woman who said she lived on the street claimed she was told to vote for Bass and got $2 in exchange for her vote.
“They gave you an optional choice,” the man said, claiming that he bargained for more and got $4 instead.
Rene Johnson, 39, who said Skid Row was her home, claimed she received $5 after being told to vote for Bass.
She also said she thought she and other homeless people were being taken advantage of.
No voter registration activity was visible during the visit. However, residents consistently described the outreach as a common occurrence during the campaign.
A fourth person by the name of Mark Sanchez, claimed he had been “approached by a couple different people.”
“To sign a petition for the mayor or different things in office and they paid me $4 or $5 in different accounts,” the man said.
Even more shocking than the claim of payment, was the fact that Mark said it happened multiple times.
“It happened more than four or five times,” he claimed.
The bombshell videos surface one day after former reality star Spencer Pratt was booted from the race by a surging Raman
The Post was unable to independently verify the claims made in the videos. It is also unclear which organizations conducted the outreach efforts or precisely what forms residents were being asked to complete.
Still, the interviews offered a glimpse into the extensive voter engagement operations that residents said were a regular feature of Skid Row life in the lead-up to the election.
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