Did Shanekka Renee Johnson, who said in a video that she was paid $5 on "Skid Row" to vote for Karen Bass for Los Angeles mayor, actually vote for Bass? No, that's not true: Information obtained from the Los Angeles County Registrar's office confirmed that Shanekka Renee Johnson, age 39, could not cast a vote for Bass since she is registered in Inglewood, which has its own mayor. Lead Stories confirmed that Johnson did not return the primary ballot that was mailed to her registered address.
The claim originated in a video (archived here) posted by the @laneedsspencerpratt TikTok account on June 9, 2026. The video caption read:
You live in Skid Row and you got paid $5 to vote for Karen Bass
This is what the first frame of the video looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of @laneedsspencerpratt on TikTok)
The video appeared to have been recorded on a sidewalk in downtown Los Angeles, likely around the infamous Skid Row area.
This is the full transcript of the video:
Shanekka Renee Johnson: My name is Shanekka Renee Johnson. I'm from Los Angeles, California. 39 years old.
Interviewer: You live in Skid Row.
Johnson: I live in Skid Row.
Interviewer: And then did they come down here and try to pay you to vote?
Johnson: Yes.
Interviewer: On a ballot?
Johnson: Yes.
Interviewer: How much they pay you?
Johnson: Five dollars.
Interviewer: Oh, they said, "Here, come and vote for these candidates."
Johnson: Yes, sir.
Interviewer: They told you who to vote for. So they told you to vote for Karen Bass or Nithya Raman.
Johnson: Karen Bass.
Interviewer: Did you vote for Karen Bass for $5?
Johnson: Yes.
Interviewer: And they're doing this for a lot of people?
Johnson: Yes.
Interviewer: How often do they come down here?
Johnson: Probably like three times a week.
Interviewer: Three times a week to get the ballots?
Johnson: Yeah.
Interviewer: Wow. To vote for Karen Bass?
Johnson: Karen Bass, or whoever else.
Interviewer: Nithya. Yeah, crazy. How long you been down here for?
Johnson: Been down here four years.
Interviewer: Four years? You've been seeing this happen all the time?
Johnson: Oh, yeah.
Interviewer: It's like a whole business, huh?
Johnson: Most definitely.
Interviewer: Would you call it fraud?
Johnson: Yeah.
Interviewer: Yeah. Yeah, fraud behavior.
Johnson: Fraud behavior, yeah.
Interviewer: Taking advantage of the homeless community.
Johnson: Yeah.
Interviewer: Yeah, you got votes.
Johnson: That sounds bad, but you know, at the time I didn't know that that was what was going on. I was just trying to make five bucks, you know.
Interviewer: Yeah, yeah. Sounds good.
Johnson: But I didn't do the fraud.
Lead Stories confirmed through information provided by the Los Angeles County Registrar's office that there was only one citizen named Shanekka Renee Johnson (or with similar spellings) registered to vote in Los Angeles County. That person is 39 years old, the same age that the woman in the video gave. Johnson's address is registered as Inglewood, which is a city located about 10 miles southwest of Skid Row. A California primary ballot was mailed to her registered address, but it did not include the Los Angeles mayoral race. Johnson can only vote in the Inglewood mayoral race, which is set for November.
Lead Stories sent a direct message on TikTok to the @laneedsspencerpratt account, but there was no reply at the time of writing. We will update this story when there is a response.
We were also unable to find contact information for Johnson.
