First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said Sunday California is “Blocking a Federal Audit of Its Voter Rolls” one day after Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt questioned the state’s vote-counting system for the first time.Essayli, the top federal prosecutor in Los Angeles and a longtime Trump ally, outlined on X long-standing federal concerns about voter roll maintenance, ballot harvesting, and loose registration laws. “For over a year, the Department of Justice has been trying to audit California’s voter rolls,” he said. “Federal law gives the Attorney General the authority to review state voter files and confirm that only eligible U.S. citizens are voting in federal elections.”
Essayli announced on Friday that federal authorities were investigating “evidence of election fraud in California,” but also later that night debunked a claim circulating on social media that Pratt received no new votes in a vote update.
Pratt took to social media Saturday night to express concern about California’s vote-counting system as officials continued to tally votes days after polls closed on Tuesday.
His lead over Councilwoman Nithya Raman for the second spot in November’s general election against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass narrowed throughout the weekend as more votes were counted.
