Claim Over CA Vote-Count Discrepancy Reportedly Debunked; Democratic Candidates Projected To Win LA

Democratic candidates Karen Bass and Nithya Raman are projected to win the Los Angeles mayoral primary and advance to the general election, as social media claims over vote discrepancies have reportedly been debunked.

"Baseless Claim" Debunked: CNN (Lean Left bias) and Los Angeles Times (Lean Left) focused on a claim circulating on social media alleging that Spencer Pratt (R) received zero new votes after a vote-count update on election night. CNN said this "conspiracy theory" was "pushed by several right-wing figures on X, including billionaire Elon Musk." The article highlighted a statement by First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli on Friday saying the claim is false and that "each candidate received votes in every update." CNN also mentioned President Donald Trump's interview with NBC, where he walked out after saying California was cheating, adding that he is "sow[ing] doubt in California's elections."

"Save America Is Necessary": Outlets on the right like Breitbart (Right), Daily Signal (Right), and the Washington Examiner editorial board (Lean Right) tended not to mention Essayli's statement regarding the claim, rather focusing on things like the SAVE America Act and assertions that California's election system "has no integrity." The Daily Signal highlighted statements from Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) saying "Whether it's accurate or not, it sure doesn't look like it," and explained how the SAVE America Act "would strengthen Americans' faith in their elections." The Washington Examiner's editorial board said "California is a unique global outlier in its inability to deliver fast and fair election results," adding that "it is not a matter of incompetence" but rather a design by the state "to both take nearly forever to count votes and make it easier at every step of the way for bad actors to influence vote totals."

"Pretty Shady": The Hill (Center) highlighted Vice President JD Vance saying "somehow we find ourselves in a situation where number one, they're still receiving ballots, not just counting ballots," and "number two, the way that they're coming in just so happens to work out such that the Republican is getting kicked out of the final two, so it's a Democrat versus Democrat runoff, that seems pretty shady to me." The article also mentioned that "experts expected Raman's margin over Pratt to increase as more votes are counted, given the tendency of Democratic and progressive voters to be more inclined to vote by mail than Republicans and Conservatives." The Hill also said "Registered Democrats in Los Angeles County outnumber registered Republicans by almost 2 million."

Related: California Vote Count: Delayed For Accuracy or Fraud?

Timeline: According to the California Secretary of State website, county election officials must finalize their results within 30 days of the election, and the Secretary of State then has up to 38 days beyond the election to certify these results. Although some candidates may concede or the media will call elections, these are unofficial until the canvass period is complete and the ballot totals are officially recognized.

Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.