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For much of election night, Pratt appeared to have the advantage.
Early returns showed him running neck-and-neck with Bass while maintaining a comfortable lead over Raman. However, as additional mail ballots continued arriving and being processed, the race began moving sharply in the opposite direction.
The situation has become even more noteworthy given recent developments involving federal authorities.
As previously reported, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli revealed Friday that federal investigators are actively examining election-related concerns in California.
Essayli announced that his office is conducting “multiple election fraud investigations” in coordination with the FBI. He also disclosed that a “comprehensive audit of California’s voter rolls” is underway alongside the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division.
Those announcements arrived as election workers continued processing ballots inside Los Angeles County’s counting facility.
Reports from the scene indicated that Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Renner visited the ballot processing center Friday, where he was reportedly observing operations and asking questions about election procedures.
Meanwhile, the vote-counting process shows no signs of ending soon.
California’s vote-by-mail rules allow ballots postmarked by Election Day to continue arriving and being counted for days afterward. Critics argue that the extended timeline creates unnecessary uncertainty and undermines public confidence in election outcomes.
Fox News correspondent Matt Finn explained why the counting process remains far from complete.
“The most recent mail-in ballots that were processed are favoring Democrats, as many analysts suggested they would. Inside the ballot processing center here in LA County, any ballot that was postmarked by Election Day, Tuesday, must be counted by law,” Finn reported.
He added, “The process takes so long, in part because each ballot must have its signature verified, and if there’s an issue, there’s a 10-day period to have it cured.”
Finn further noted that it is “very likely” vote counting will continue into next week.
That reality has fueled growing frustration among voters who believed election results would be largely settled shortly after polls closed.
The numbers tell the story.
Earlier Friday afternoon, with approximately 64.3 percent of expected votes counted, Pratt held a lead of roughly six percentage points over Raman. At that point, Pratt was sitting at 29.4 percent of the vote while Raman stood at 23.4 percent.
Just hours later, after additional ballots were added to the tally, the gap narrowed dramatically.
By Friday evening, with 71.2 percent of expected votes counted, Pratt’s advantage had been reduced to only 3.3 percentage points.
Local reports indicated that Pratt’s lead had fallen from more than 33,000 votes to just over 20,000 votes in a single day.
Even more concerning for Pratt supporters is the massive number of ballots still left to process. Election officials estimate that more than 250,000 ballots remain outstanding, meaning the race is far from decided.
Whether the remaining ballots continue breaking heavily toward Raman remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: a contest that once appeared to favor Spencer Pratt is rapidly tightening, and with federal investigators already examining election-related issues elsewhere in California, every new ballot drop will likely face intense public scrutiny.
As Los Angeles continues counting votes through the weekend and potentially beyond, voters across the city will be watching closely to see whether Pratt can hold onto his shrinking lead or whether another late surge will completely reshape the race.
