A viral TikTok video posted in the days before Tuesday’s Los Angeles mayoral primary claimed that mail-in ballots would be used to cast multiple fraudulent votes for Spencer Pratt — but the ballots shown in the video are West Hollywood ballots, not Los Angeles city ballots, and they can’t be used to vote in the LA mayor’s race.
Reuters fact-checked the video and rated it misleading.
The video showed a person holding an instruction guide and several ballot sheets in one hand and three unopened mail ballots in the other. A voiceover said, “Every single one of these is gonna be filled out by one person and voting for Spencer Pratt.” Superimposed text read “Spencer Pratt For LA Mayor” and “No Voter ID Needed.”
Reuters identified the precinct printed on the ballots as PCT: 7750005A. That’s a West Hollywood precinct. West Hollywood is an independent city, incorporated in 1984, and its ballots are entirely separate from City of Los Angeles ballots. They can’t be used to vote in the LA mayoral primary.
The precinct covers a residential block just south of Sunset Boulevard near Larrabee Street, on West Hollywood’s westside. The person in the video appears to be a West Hollywood resident making a point about LA voter fraud with ballots that have nothing to do with the LA mayor’s race.
Mike Sanchez, communications manager at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, said in an email that multiple ballots may legitimately arrive at the same address. Registered voters who share an address and former residents who haven’t updated their registrations are both common reasons, Sanchez said.
Every returned ballot goes through signature verification against the voter’s registration record before it’s counted. “The broader point is that videos like this should not be interpreted as evidence that ballots can be fraudulently cast and counted,” Sanchez said. “Los Angeles County has multiple safeguards in place to verify voters, protect ballot integrity and identify unauthorized activity.”
Pratt’s campaign and the account that posted the video didn’t respond to requests for comment, Reuters said.
The video circulated as Pratt was running as a serious contender in Tuesday’s primary. A UC Berkeley-Los Angeles Times poll conducted in mid-May showed Bass leading with 26%, Raman at 25%, and Pratt at 22% — a three-way race tight enough that any two of them could advance to a November runoff.
So this article explains that the votes won’t count? That’s the explanation? Ignore the whole fraud issue. Oh, we were caught, we just won’t count these? Great work.
In 2020 I got my own ballot and one addressed to my neighbor that I put at his door. The next day I got two more ballots for names I didn’t recognize who I assume once lived at my address.
After my mother died her mail was forwarded to me. Because she was disabled she always got mail-in ballots. I got ballots addressed to her over two voting cycles.
The opportunity to cheat is very clear with the wide use of mail-in ballots.
I pray to god Pratt wins