Marina del Rey Woman Charged in Voter Scheme

Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, a 64-year-old Marina del Rey resident, was charged by federal prosecutors on May 18 with paying people, including homeless residents on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, to register to vote. The Justice Department said Armstrong has agreed to plead guilty to one felony count of paying another person to register to vote. Prosecutors said the charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. The case was filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, where Armstrong made an initial appearance the same day. ### Who is Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, and what do prosecutors say she was doing? Armstrong, who prosecutors said also used the name “Anika,” worked for about 20 years as a paid petition circulator for California ballot measures, according to her plea agreement. In that role, she collected signatures on petitions for initiatives, referendums and recalls, then returned them to coordinators who paid her for signatures linked to registered voters. (justice.gov) Federal prosecutors said that payment system created an incentive to make sure people signing petitions were registered. In Skid Row, where many potential signers were not registered to vote, Armstrong allegedly began offering payment not just for signatures but also for completed voter-registration forms, starting no later than 2025. (justice.gov) ### What exactly is the federal charge? The Justice Department said Armstrong is charged with one count of paying another person to register to vote in a federal election. Prosecutors said the case centers on a Jan. 30 incident in which Armstrong knowingly paid another person to register to vote as part of the broader scheme described in the plea agreement. (justice.gov) The department said Armstrong has agreed to plead guilty, but as of the May 18 announcement she was still expected to formally enter that plea in the coming weeks. NBC Los Angeles reported she appeared in court in Santa Ana on May 18 after reaching the agreement with prosecutors. ### How were Skid Row residents allegedly recruited? (justice.gov) Skid Row was described by prosecutors as a place where Armstrong could find many people in a small area who were willing to sign petitions in exchange for payment. The Justice Department said she regularly paid, and offered to pay, cash amounts usually between $2 and $3 to induce people to sign petitions. NBC Los Angeles reported prosecutors also alleged she offered cigarettes and phone cards. (nbclosangeles.com) Court documents cited by NBC Los Angeles said Armstrong sometimes brought voter-registration forms with her because unregistered people could not sign petitions in a way that would count toward her pay. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said at a May 18 news conference, “Before she could have a homeless person sign a petition, she first needed to get them to register to vote, and that’s what she paid them to do.” (justice.gov) ### What do prosecutors say about addresses and ballots? NBC Los Angeles reported that when some people did not have a home address to put on registration forms, Armstrong provided her own former address on at least several occasions, according to court documents. Prosecutors said ballots in some homeless individuals’ names could have been sent to that former residence, though NBC reported it was not immediately clear how many people were registered. (nbclosangeles.com) CBS Los Angeles separately reported prosecutors said Armstrong paid people experiencing homelessness to register under false addresses. The Justice Department’s public statement did not specify a total number of registrations or allege that any ballot was actually cast by Armstrong. ### What have officials said publicly? (nbclosangeles.com) Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in the Justice Department release that “false registrations undermine Americans’ faith in elections” and said the department was committed to elections “free from illegal meddling.” The statement came from the Civil Rights Division, which announced the case with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California. (cbsnews.com) Dean C. Logan, the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder/county clerk, also condemned Armstrong’s conduct, according to NBC Los Angeles. NBC did not report any allegation by county officials that the scheme changed the outcome of an election. ### What happens next in court? May 18 was Armstrong’s initial appearance in federal court in Santa Ana, according to the Justice Department. (justice.gov) Prosecutors said she is expected to return in the coming weeks to formally plead guilty to the felony charge, and the statutory maximum penalty is five years in prison. (justice.gov) (nbclosangeles.com)