> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Ballots are big bucks for signature gatherers - URL: https://www.smdp.com/ballots-are-big-bucks-for-signature-gatherers/ - Published: 2002-09-03T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T00:42:53.000Z - Author: Carolyn Sackariason - Tags: Government & Politics, Montana, #archive-import *Local officials look to preserve historical homes* There she was, panhandling for registered voters at $1.50 a pop — in an upscale neighborhood, no less. One recent afternoon a woman stationed herself in front of Pavilions on Montana Avenue, asking people to sign a petition for an initiative that didn’t make it on this fall’s ballot, but is eligible for a special election early next year. For every signature that she gets by a registered voter, the woman will receive $1.50\. She’s being paid indirectly by the Homeowners for Voluntary Preservation, a committee made up of homeowners fighting to protect their property rights from Santa Monica city government. The committee so far has paid a firm $20,000, which then contracts with people to hit the pavement and collect the required amount of signatures for a ballot initiative. It’s a fairly common practice in Santa Monica, where most of the signature gatherers are paid based on how many registered voters they get to sign a petition. To get the petition signed, organizers have long known, they need to “buy” voters’ signatures. During the city’s controversial minimum wage debate two years ago, signatures were reportedly fetching up to $25 each. And that’s not all. The woman in front of Pavilions said she was receiving $2 for every person she could register as a Republican. The California Republican Party refers to such activity as the “Bounty program.” It offers big incentives in some areas of the state for people to collect signatures. “The California Republican Party took on a lot of aggressive registration programs at the beginning of the year to gear up for this year’s election season and November, 2004,” said Karen Hanretty, spokeswoman for the California Republican party. “It’s fairly common statewide and even across the country where people go from state to state and do it for a living.” Hanretty said people in certain districts throughout the state can garner up to $10 per signature, especially where a push is being made to register more Republicans. In Santa Monica, however, the ratio of Democrats to Republicans is a not a significant gap. Forty-nine percent are registered Democrats while 31 percent of Santa Monica’s citizenry has registered Republican, she said. “Republicans never need to be even with Democrats because we tend to vote more,” Hanretty said, adding Santa Monica is not a high priority for the party right now. “Districts that aren’t targeted just don’t get as much money.” People have the right to ask the signature gatherer if he or she is a volunteer or is being paid, which by city law they have to disclose. They also can ask how much they are making per signature, according to an information sheet that signature gatherers are required to give people. Many of the signature gatherers come from outside of the city and therefore are not Santa Monica registered voters. That makes the cost of collecting signatures even more expensive because the firm also must hire a “witness” eligible to vote, said Tom Larmore, a member of the Homeowners for Voluntary Preservation. The committee is trying to put the Homeowners Freedom of Choice Initiative in front of voters. If it passes, it would allow homeowners of historic homes a choice as to whether their homes should be classified as landmarks, or structures of merit. The group needs 9,300 signatures before Oct. 1 to place the initiative on a special election ballot. “We’ve got enough signatures for a special election,” said Larmore, who owns a home north of Montana Avenue and is a locally-based property rights attorney. Right now the group has collected between 8,000 and 8,500 signatures. “We will be working hard through the end of (September) but I think we have enough.” Santa Monica City Clerk Maria Stewart said the committee needs 15 percent of registered voters to sign the petition to force a special election and 10 percent will get the initiative on the November, 2004 ballot. Committee members believe that the city’s current ordinance imposes restrictions on private property which constitutes an unwarranted intrusion on personal freedoms. The city allows the landmarks commission to designate single family homes as “landmarks” and “structures of merit,” as well as create historical districts in certain areas of Santa Monica without the permission of the property owner. If homeowners want to make an alteration to the exterior of their home, they have to go through a rigorous public approval process. Homeowners of older homes feel it doesn’t make sense that the government has more rights over their property than they do. They want to be able to decide for themselves what can and can’t be done to their homes. “This is a classic example of people taking things into their own hands,” Larmore said. “We’ve got a response because the homeowners feel it is very important to them.” > “This is a classic example of people taking things into their own hands. We’ve got a response because the homeowners feel it is very important to them.” — — TOM LARMORE Homeowners for Voluntary Preservation The city procedure was prompted by a recent survey conducted by Hollywood-based Historic Resources Group, which was hired by the city. The study concluded that the north of Montana Avenue area includes some of the oldest and most significant historic resources in Santa Monica. The report said less than 1 percent of the potential historic properties in the area have been designated or preserved. Consultants who prepared the report characterized Santa Monica as losing its older historical properties and said city officials need to make important decisions about how they want to preserve the remaining buildings before they are demolished or significantly altered. Overall, the consultants looked at the 3,900 homes north of Montana. They found that about 9 percent, 358 homes were of historical merit. The number of homes on the inventory didn’t change very much from 1986, the last time a similar survey was taken, because many of the older homes were taken off the list and replaced with homes that have reached the 50 year-old bench-mark for consideration. The last survey on the subject recommended the city preserve about 158 homes from Palisades Avenue to Georgina Avenue. Because those homes were not preserved 20 years ago, nearly two-thirds of them have either been demolished or altered enough to render them historically insignificant, consultants said. *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 3, 2002.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/090302.pdf?ref=smdp.com)