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What has stood out to observers is the dramatic shift in momentum. On election night, early returns—particularly those from in-person voting and early-arriving mail ballots—showed Pratt with a strong and growing lead. However, subsequent ballot releases have consistently reduced that advantage.
Saturday’s tally further underscored that shift. According to the updated count, Nithya Raman received more than twice as many votes as Pratt in that batch alone, earning 23,514 votes compared to Pratt’s 10,336. That pattern followed a similar Friday evening ballot release that also significantly boosted Raman’s totals and narrowed Pratt’s earlier advantage of nearly 21,000 votes.
As additional ballots continue to be processed, California’s handling of mail-in voting remains a central focus of debate. The state continues to count ballots that arrive after Election Day, so long as they are postmarked on or before the legal deadline. That process has resulted in ongoing updates days after polls officially closed.
During election night coverage, NBC’s Steve Kornacki pointed to the dynamic between early in-person results and later-arriving mail ballots as a key factor in the evolving race. He noted that Pratt initially benefited from early vote counts before the tide began to shift as additional ballots were included. Kornacki explained the situation clearly, stating that mail ballots arriving after Election Day, “probably like a third of the vote in Los Angeles,” would likely have a significant impact on the final outcome.
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Meanwhile, concerns about the integrity and transparency of the counting process have prompted attention from federal authorities. First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli announced on Friday that his office is conducting “multiple election fraud investigations” and provided a dedicated email for public submissions. “Email tips to: CA*****************@***oj.gov,” he wrote.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Renner was also observed at the Los Angeles County ballot processing center on Friday as part of the ongoing federal review of election procedures.
Spencer Pratt himself has publicly questioned the shifting results, expressing frustration over how the vote counting process has unfolded and how rapidly his once-comfortable lead has diminished as additional ballots are added to the tally.
The situation has also drawn political commentary from prominent California Republicans. Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton sharply criticized the state’s election system, arguing that the prolonged counting process undermines public confidence. He called the system “absolutely shameful for our state.”
“Thanks to the Democrats in charge of our state, we have become a national and an international laughing stock,” he said, noting that India “counts over 640 million votes in a day,” but “California cannot count less than 10 million votes in a month.”
Hilton also outlined proposed reforms he says would restore confidence in the process, including banning unlimited mail-in voting, requiring all ballots to arrive by Election Day, and pre-counting early mail ballots to speed up reporting if elected governor.
As the count continues, attention remains fixed on the remaining ballots and whether the late-arriving vote trend will again reshape the final standings in one of Los Angeles’ most closely watched local races.
