Spencer Pratts Volunteer Team Finds Many Skid Row Residents Registered but Rarely Vote

Sunday’s sun barely warmed the concrete of Skid Row as the Pratt Pack – a handful of volunteers from Spencer Pratt’s election team – set out to map the invisible voting line of downtown Los Angeles.

They spent several hours wandering shelters, food‑service tents, and encampments, asking residents about voter registration, mail‑in ballots, and the work of petition gatherers who have long operated in the area. According to the volunteers, a surprising number of people had been registered to vote and had even received ballots, but very few reported having cast a vote.

"What we’re finding is a lot of people being registered to vote, a lot of ballots being sent out, and nobody actually voted," said Susan Collins, a former California State Senate candidate who was part of the Pratt Pack.

The observations came after Pratt was eliminated from the mayoral race. Karen Bass and city councilor Nithya Raman advanced to the November general election, leaving Pratt out of the top two.

A separate investigation by the California Post earlier this month uncovered more than 7,600 voter registrations linked to shelters, supportive‑housing projects, addiction‑treatment centers and social‑service agencies in Los Angeles County. One of the largest clusters—1,160 registrations—was tied to the Midnight Mission, a nonprofit on Skid Row that provides meals, recovery programs and temporary shelter.

The Midnight Mission’s website lists only 84 male and 36 female beds, raising questions about how the registration numbers were generated. Residents interviewed by the Pratt Pack said they had been approached by petition circulators who offered money or cigarettes in exchange for signing registration forms.

"A lot of people never voted," said a volunteer named Thadeus Brown. "They did register, but they just wanted the names."

The issue of ballot harvesting on Skid Row has drawn attention from federal prosecutors. Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, known online as “Anika,” was charged in May with paying others to register homeless people to vote. Armstrong, who had worked as a paid petition circulator, has agreed to plead guilty.

"She’d give them $3 to $5. Some of the cheap people give them $2 and a cigarette," Brown recalled.

The volunteers noted that while many residents remembered registering, few could recall voting in the primary. "So what I’ve been hearing from a lot of people is that they registered to vote," Collins added. "I have not found anybody that has actually voted."

The findings echo concerns raised by other observers. A recent article in the Los Angeles Times described the situation as an “unfounded claim of homeless vote fraud” but noted that even isolated cases would not alter the election outcome.

Ann Juliano, who was visiting Skid Row for the first time, described the experience as eye‑opening. "It was really intense," she said. "We saw a guy chasing another guy with a shovel and attacking him."

Juliano said she came to Skid Row looking for answers and that the numbers did not add up. "I guess being here is part of trying to figure out what happened. The numbers just don’t make sense," she said. "That’s why I’m digging deeper instead of sitting on the sidelines."

The volunteers concluded that the discrepancy between registrations and actual votes remains unexplained. They emphasized that the volunteers were part of Pratt’s campaign, and that the findings could influence how the city’s election officials address voter outreach in homeless communities.

The California Post’s investigation and the Pratt Pack’s on‑the‑ground interviews highlight the need for clearer data on how many homeless residents are registered, how many receive ballots, and how many actually vote. The city’s election office has not yet released a response to the findings.

The situation underscores the broader challenge of ensuring that all eligible voters, including those experiencing homelessness, can participate in elections. California law allows unhoused individuals to register and vote, but many are unaware of the process or lack a stable address to receive mail.

The story continues to develop as city officials, election authorities and advocacy groups examine the data and consider steps to improve voter access and transparency in Skid Row and other underserved neighborhoods.