Spencer Pratt’s Frustration with Vote Counting in LA
Spencer Pratt, who’s running for mayor in Los Angeles, expressed his frustration on Saturday regarding the slow vote counting process. After initially having a strong lead in the primary, he saw it shrink as fewer votes were tallied in the final moments.
In a somewhat humorous take, he shared a photo of Russell Crowe from the film “A Beautiful Mind,” where Crowe portrays a mathematician, along with a caption that read, “Trying to understand how votes are counted in Los Angeles.”
The latest election results revealed that Pratt’s lead over challenger Nitya Raman had dwindled to just 7,494 votes, a sharp drop from over 20,000 just a day prior. Raman’s vote share increased from 24.9% to 26.2%, while Pratt’s decreased from 28.2% to 27.3%, with approximately 78% of ballots counted as of Saturday.
This post came shortly after an announcement from the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles, indicating an investigation into multiple election fraud claims, raising concerns about California’s sluggish vote tallying.
Bill Ezeiri, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney, mentioned that his office is collaborating with the Department of Justice to conduct a thorough audit of the state’s voter rolls. On Friday, federal prosecutors even visited the local ballot processing facility to examine its operations.
Over the weekend, Ezeiri urged the public to report any occurrences of election fraud directly to his office.
Meanwhile, Pratt’s wife, Heidi, was spotted running errands in Carpinteria, while the couple has been staying at his father’s home after their residence was lost in the Palisades fire.
Back in Los Angeles, the focus remained on the county’s vote-counting center, where officials continue to handle a substantial backlog of outstanding ballots. This prolonged counting process has drawn scrutiny towards Dean Logan, the County Registrar-Recorder and County Clerk, who is responsible for overseeing this operation. Despite a hefty salary of about $450,000 a year, he faces criticism as several pivotal races remain undetermined and hundreds of thousands of ballots are still pending their count.
