BREAKING: Los Angeles Mayoral Race Sees Controversy Over Latest Ballot Update

In a development that has sparked intense debate online, a recent ballot drop in the Los Angeles mayoral primary appeared to show Republican candidate Spencer Pratt receiving zero votes from a batch of approximately 24,000 ballots.

The update, reported by several media outlets monitoring the June 2 primary results, showed incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and Councilmember Nithya Raman gaining thousands of new votes, while Pratt — a reality TV star from The Hills running as a political outsider — registered no additional support in that snapshot.

Context and Clarification

Los Angeles County election officials and multiple news organizations, including the Los Angeles Times, have clarified that this was not evidence of a batch containing zero votes for Pratt. Instead, it resulted from a temporary data reporting lag in how vote updates were displayed by the Associated Press feed and media systems.

A follow-up update shortly after showed Pratt receiving votes, and county records confirm that every candidate received votes in each batch processed. The Department of Justice and local election authorities have reviewed the claims and described them as baseless.

Current Race Standing

As of the latest counts:

• Incumbent Karen Bass maintains a strong lead.
• The tight battle for second place continues between Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman, with hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots still to be tabulated in the coming weeks.

Pratt had built a solid position on election night, but late mail-in ballots — often from densely populated, Democratic-leaning areas — have narrowed the gap. The top two finishers will advance to the November general election.

This episode has fueled online discussions about election transparency, mail-in voting, and data reporting in one of America’s largest cities. Election officials emphasize that the full count remains ongoing, with certification expected in early July.