A 40,000-vote election night lead for Republican Spencer Pratt vanished over a six-day counting window, flipping the Los Angeles mayoral primary in favor of Democratic Socialist City Councilwoman Nithya Raman.
By Sunday evening, Raman pulled ahead by over 3,100 votes, securing her spot in a November runoff against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass. “A net swing of more than 43,000 votes since Tuesday,” Pratt wrote on X.
The reversal has intensified criticism of California’s election system. State law allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted up to seven days later. Officials say this maximizes participation, but critics argue the extended timeline and legal third-party ballot harvesting compromise chain of custody.
The dispute coincides with a major case before the U.S. Supreme Court, Watson v. Republican National Committee, which challenges the constitutionality of counting ballots received after Election Day. A ruling could impact late-ballot grace periods in 14 states.
“What’s happening in California is a Democrat failure on full display,” RNC Chairman Joe Gruters said. “Nearly a week after the primary, it is completely unacceptable ballots are still being counted.”
Simultaneously, a lawsuit filed by Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner alleges California has 873,092 inactive voter registrations on its rolls. Furthermore, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli is battling the state in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to force a federal audit of voter records.
“If California genuinely wants voters to trust its elections, it should open its records,” Essayli said on Fox News, though he clarified his office looks for specific fraud rather than aggregate vote swings. “I’m not interested in the outcome of the election… I’m interested in evidence where people have committed fraud.”
The prolonged count also delayed the gubernatorial primary results, where Trump-endorsed Steve Hilton ultimately secured the second-place spot over Tom Steyer to advance against Democrat Xavier Becerra.
Supporters of the current laws maintain that post-election grace periods protect rural voters and military families. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the matter this summer.
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