Here's a fun civics lesson they don't teach in school: apparently, if you want to get something on the San Francisco ballot, you can just buy your way there — and not even in the subtle, lobbying-over-cocktails kind of way. We're talking straight-up paying people to forge signatures on petitions.

Multiple incidents have now been caught on camera showing individuals being paid to fabricate signatures on petitions tied to pro-billionaire ballot measures in the city. Let that sink in. Not allegations. Not rumors. Filmed evidence of people purchasing fraudulent signatures to game the democratic process.

This should infuriate you regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum. The petition process exists so that regular citizens — not just the politically connected — can put issues before voters. When wealthy interests can simply manufacture the appearance of grassroots support by paying for forged signatures, that mechanism is dead. It doesn't matter whether you agree or disagree with whatever these petitions are pushing. The process itself is being corrupted.

And here's the part that really stings: San Francisco already has a trust problem with its institutions. Between a Board of Supervisors that regularly ignores voter-approved measures, a bureaucracy that burns through billions with little accountability, and a city government that seems allergic to transparency, the last thing we need is yet another reason for residents to feel like the system is rigged.

So what happens now? If the city's Department of Elections and the District Attorney's office are serious about election integrity, this should be a layup prosecution. Forging petition signatures is a crime. It's documented. Go get 'em.

But we're not holding our breath. This is San Francisco, after all — a city where accountability goes to die. The real question isn't whether someone will be held responsible. It's whether anyone in power even cares enough to try.

Democracy isn't cheap, but it shouldn't be for sale either.