Spencer Pratt, a candidate in the Los Angeles mayoral race, voiced his exasperation on Saturday over the sluggish vote counting process, which has impacted his previously substantial lead in the primary. The latest ballot updates revealed a significant narrowing of the gap.
In a humorous nod to the situation, Pratt shared a picture of Russell Crowe from “A Beautiful Mind,” a film where Crowe plays a mathematician, accompanied by the caption, “Me trying to figure out how votes get counted in LA.”
The updated election results on Saturday highlighted Pratt’s diminishing lead over his opponent, Nithya Raman. His advantage shrank to just 7,494 votes, a sharp decline from the more than 20,000-vote lead he enjoyed only a day before.
Raman’s share of the vote increased from 24.9% to 26.2%, while Pratt saw his percentage drop from 28.2% to 27.3%. By Saturday, approximately 78% of the ballots had been counted.
This development followed an announcement from Los Angeles’ chief federal prosecutor, who stated that the office, in collaboration with the FBI, is investigating several election fraud cases. This comes amid growing concerns over the protracted vote counting process in California.
The post came a day after Los Angeles’ top federal prosecutor announced that his office is pursuing several election fraud investigations alongside the FBI as questions continue to mount over California’s slow-moving vote count.
First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli told The California Post on Friday that he is working with the Department of Justice “to conduct a comprehensive audit of California’s voter rolls.”
A federal prosecutor also visited the Los Angeles County ballot processing facility on Friday to tour the operation.
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On Saturday, Essayli urged members of the public to report any incidents of election fraud directly to his office.
Meanwhile Pratt’s wife, Heidi, was spotted running errands in Carpinteria, where Pratt said his family has “sheltered up” at his father’s house after their home burned down in the Palisades Fire.
Back in Los Angeles, attention remained fixed on the county’s ballot-counting center, where workers continued processing large numbers of outstanding ballots.
The prolonged count has also renewed scrutiny of Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan, the official overseeing the process.
Logan, whose total compensation is nearly $450,000 annually, is facing questions as several key races remain unresolved and hundreds of thousands of ballots await counting.
