DOJ debunks social media claim of discrepancy in LA mayor vote count while Trump sows doubt in California’s elections

By Kaanita Iyer, CNN

(CNN) — A Los Angeles-based Justice Department official late Friday debunked a baseless claim of a discrepancy in the vote count of the city’s mayoral race that has circulated on social media.

The claim, which has been pushed by several right-wing figures on X, including billionaire Elon Musk, alleges a vote-count update on election night showed that Republican candidate Spencer Pratt received zero new votes. The push for clarity comes as President Donald Trump has used the prolonged vote count in California to sow doubt about the integrity of the state’s elections, accusing local officials of “cheating” in a heated exchange with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

On Friday, however, First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli — a Trump appointee who leads the Los Angeles-based US attorney’s office — addressed the conspiracy theory.

“There was a claim circulating on social media about an election night ballot update at the Los Angeles Registrar of Voters where one candidate received zero votes,” Essayli wrote. “We reviewed official county records. The claim is false. Each candidate received votes in every update.”

“There was a claim circulating on social media about an election night ballot update at the Los Angeles Registrar of Voters where one candidate received zero votes,” Essayli wrote. “We reviewed official county records. The claim is false. Each candidate received votes in every update.”

Pratt, a former reality TV star, ran against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who are both Democrats, in Tuesday night’s nonpartisan primary election. CNN has projected that Bass will advance to the November general election but has yet to call whether she will face off against Pratt or Raman as votes continue to be counted.

A spokesperson for The Associated Press, which publishes vote counts in real time based on reports from election officials, told CNN in a statement that “there was a lag in an automated update such that some candidates’ votes were added in one update and the other candidates followed about a minute later.”

Pratt was in the second batch of candidates, the AP said, which means the vote counts were slightly delayed and, therefore, initially showed him appearing to gain zero additional votes in one of the updates that came in while two other leading candidates received thousands of votes.

“Exactly one minute later, the electronic update picked up the votes for another group of candidates including Spencer Pratt. Taken together, the updates included 21,870 votes for Pratt, 12,850 votes for Bass and 9,521 votes for Raman, along with votes for other candidates,” the AP spokesperson said.

CNN has reached out to the Los Angeles County clerk’s office for comment.

The conspiracy theory around the mayor’s race comes as Trump has claimed repeatedly without evidence, that the slow pace of the count from Tuesday’s primary was a sign of Democratic “cheating.” The Justice Department then sent one of its attorneys to observe ballot processing in Los Angeles, the county’s election office told CNN.

“Let me tell you, it’s four days and they aren’t even close to coming up with the–” Trump told NBC in an interview that aired Sunday. “You know why they’re doing that? Because they’re cheating on the election.”

Trump compared the race to the 2020 election, when he lost reelection to Joe Biden and pushed baseless voter fraud claims in an effort to overturn the results.

“Your elections in this country — we’re like a third-world country,” Trump said when pressed on his lack of evidence for his claims, before accusing the reporter of being “crooked” and ending the interview.

Earlier Friday, Essayli also alleged, “There is evidence of election fraud in California,” adding that “investigations are underway.”

California has long had a reputation for being slow to report the results. That’s because a significant number of the total votes come in as mail ballots are dropped off on Election Day, according to the California Voter Foundation, a nonprofit organization that seeks to improve the election process.

Under state law, mail ballots can be received at local election offices up to seven days after the election, as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day. And officials must verify ballots before they can be counted. It’s typical for mail ballots counted in the days after the election to lean Democratic.

Saturday night’s vote update from Los Angeles was Raman’s strongest performance so far. She won 40.2% of the more than 58,000 votes reported to Pratt’s 17.7%.

Votes reported after election night in California tend to shift toward Democrats, as they typically include mail ballots that were cast closer to Election Day itself. Across all votes reported from Los Angeles since the close of Election Night counting, Raman has outperformed both Bass and Pratt, cutting Pratt’s lead by about 33,000 votes and increasing her overall share of the vote by about 4 points.

This story and headline have been updated with additional reporting.

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