California election officials are investigating whether signature collectors in San Francisco illegally offered to pay people to sign ballot petitions using false names. A social media video showed signature gatherers offering a line of people $5 to sign ballot petitions under names and addresses of other voters. When asked what the petitions were, the collector said, “Just sign it.” At least one of the petitions seen in the video was for a tech-backed ballot measure to fight a proposed tax on billionaires. The campaign said the collectors were not directly working for the group and the petitions will be rejected.
