Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman continues to cut into former reality television star Spencer Pratt’s lead in the race for second place in the Los Angeles mayor’s race, as the Trump administration investigates what it characterizes as voter fraud in California’s June 2 primary.
An updated vote tally Saturday showed Pratt with 184,596 votes in Tuesday’s primary, or 27.32%, with Raman further narrowing the gap with 177,102 votes, or 26.21%. Pratt held a 40,302-vote lead Wednesday, but that narrowed to 33,076 votes on Thursday, a little over 20,000 votes on Friday and 7,494 votes in Saturday evening’s updated count.
Mayor Karen Bass has secured a spot in the November runoff after receiving 235,180 votes as of Saturday, or 34.81%.
Voting results typically take longer in California than in other states, as officials process a large number of mail-in ballots, which can be received as many as seven days after the election.
“Remember everyone — we are still in the lead, and we’ve got allllllll the way til July 6th to keep counting. They’re not the only ones who know where to find votes,” Pratt posted Sunday on X.
The former reality TV star posted a photo Saturday from the 2001 film “A Beautiful Mind,” depicting Russell Crowe’s mathematician character scrutinizing a complicated equation, along with the message, “Me trying to figure out how votes get counted in LA.”
First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli confirmed Friday that his office has “multiple” probes underway into alleged voting fraud in the Golden State, one day after President Donald Trump alleged — without providing any examples or evidence — that Democrats were cheating in California’s primary.
“California’s election system has serious structural vulnerabilities,” he wrote. “Universal vote-by-mail with no voter ID requirements creates conditions where fraud can go undetected and unpunished, eroding public confidence. Without commenting on any specific investigation, my office has multiple election fraud investigations underway in coordination with (the FBI). We will follow the evidence wherever it leads and prosecute any violations of federal election law to the fullest extent.”
On Sunday, Essayli said California was “blocking” a federal audit of its voter rolls.
“California allows first-time voters to register using forms of ID that most Americans would find surprising, including: Gym membership card, employer ID card, credit or debit card, prescription drug label, insurance card (California provides free health coverage to undocumented immigrants),” Essayli posted on X.
“This is permitted when a voter fails to provide a Social Security number or driver’s license at registration. Our office believes this policy deserves a closer look. We also have serious concerns about how California maintains its voter rolls. There are open questions about whether the state is promptly removing deceased voters, people who have moved and individuals convicted of disqualifying felonies.
“On top of that, California allows third parties to collect and turn in ballots on voters’ behalf (a practice known as ballot harvesting) with few restrictions. This makes it difficult to track who actually received, completed, and submitted each ballot,” he continued.
“For over a year, the Department of Justice has been trying to audit California’s voter rolls. Federal law gives the attorney general the authority to review state voter files and confirm that only eligible U.S. citizens are voting in federal elections. … California refused to comply, claiming state privacy laws block the review, an argument that does not hold up because those laws don’t apply to the federal government in this context. We’ve sued California in federal court, and the case is before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. If California genuinely wants voters to trust its elections, it should open its records, not fight to keep them closed. What are they afraid of?”
Essayli urged anyone who may have witnessed potential election fraud to email tips to CAElectionFraudTips@usdoj.gov.
The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk confirmed to City News Service that an official from the U.S. Attorney’s Office inspected the main county vote processing center on Friday.
“Our office was notified late Thursday that the U.S. Attorney’s Office would be sending an Assistant U.S. attorney to the Ballot Processing Center to observe ballot processing activities. The individual arrived Friday morning, was provided an overview of the public observation program, and participated in a walk-through of the ballot processing operations,” the Registrar’s Office said.
“Ballot processing in Los Angeles County is open to public observation, and election officials routinely host observers representing a wide range of interests, including members of the public, candidates, political parties, advocacy organizations, and government agencies.”
Trump discussed the state’s voting issues again Sunday, getting into a heated argument with NBC News’ Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press.” Pressed for evidence of vote fraud, the president said “all I have to do is look. … Do you think it’s appropriate that they have an election, and five days later they’re nowhere close to picking (a winner)?”
Trump then ended the interview.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said Thursday that residents should expect continued updates in vote totals from Tuesday’s election as outstanding ballots are counted. She noted that California law allows county election officials up to 30 days to complete the official canvass and process eligible ballots that remain outstanding.
Under Assembly Bill 5, which took effect this year, counties are required to count and report most ballots by June 15. Certain ballot types are exempt from that deadline, including provisional ballots, conditional voter registration ballots, signature cure ballots, ballots requiring duplication, ballots forwarded from other counties and some late-arriving vote-by-mail ballots, according to Weber.
County elections officials must submit their final results to the Secretary of State by July 3. The Secretary of State is scheduled to certify the election results by July 10.