Spencer Pratt Questions Vote Counting in California as Lead Over Nithya Raman Decreases

Spencer Pratt, a candidate in the Los Angeles mayoral race, raised concerns about California's vote-counting system on Saturday night as his lead over Councilwoman Nithya Raman diminished. As of Saturday night, Pratt's lead was less than 10,000 votes, down from approximately 40,000 votes earlier in the week. By 11:30 p.m., Pratt had received 27.3% of the vote compared to Raman's 26.2%, with 77% of the expected votes counted. Pratt expressed his confusion about the vote counting in a post on X, stating, "Me trying to figure out how votes get counted in LA." This comment followed a debunking by a Department of Justice official regarding a claim that Pratt had received no new votes in a recent update, a claim that had been circulated on social media. The top two candidates in the primary will advance to a runoff against current Mayor Karen Bass on November 3. California's election results often take longer to finalize due to the state's extensive use of mail-in voting, which requires verification of ballots. Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, mentioned that an election fraud tipline had been established for reporting potential fraud. Between Thursday and Friday, Raman reportedly received twice as many votes as Pratt. Bass, elected mayor in 2022, has been endorsed by Governor Gavin Newsom. Pratt has previously criticized Bass regarding the impact of wildfires on his property and has gained popularity recently, suggesting the potential for a non-Democratic candidate to win in California.