A Los Angeles-based Justice Department official late Friday debunked a baseless claim of a discrepancy in the vote count of the city’s mayoral race that has circulated on social media.
The claim, which has been pushed by several right-wing figures on X, including billionaire Elon Musk, alleges a vote-count update on election night showed that Republican candidate Spencer Pratt received zero new votes.
First Assistant US Attorney Bill Essayli — an appointee of President Donald Trump who leads the Los Angeles-based US attorney’s office — addressed the conspiracy theory on Friday.
“There was a claim circulating on social media about an election night ballot update at the Los Angeles Registrar of Voters where one candidate received zero votes,” Essayli wrote. “We reviewed official county records. The claim is false. Each candidate received votes in every update.”
Several accounts posted a claim on social media suggesting there was election fraud in the race, alleging there was a vote count update in which Republican mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt received zero votes.
