LOS ANGELES, CA — City Councilwoman Nithya Raman has defeated Spencer Pratt for second place in the mayoral election and will face off against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass in the November runoff election, the Associated Press determined Monday evening.
Bass' comfortable lead prompted the AP to conclude on election night that the incumbent had secured her place in the November runoff. As ballots continued to be counted by Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office in the following days, Pratt's initial lead over Raman shrunk.
With Sunday's ballot-count update, Raman overtook Pratt with an approximately 3,000-vote lead.
A subsequent update on Monday evening showed Raman with a 21,819-vote lead over Pratt. That prompted the AP, along with NBC News, to call the election for Raman in the No. 2 spot.
Here's how the ballot count stood Monday evening:
Raman proclaimed victory over Pratt shortly after Monday's results were released.
"Now our fight for a healthier, safer, more affordable, and more joyful Los Angeles continues. For too long, City Hall has prioritized giving political advantage to powerful interests that fund elections. Meanwhile, working people pay the price in higher rents, depleted services, and a city that has stopped working for them," Raman said in a statement.
After news of Raman's ascension to second place Sunday, Bass' campaign issued a statement noting the incumbent was confident she would defeat Raman in November. Bass' campaign again reiterated that message on Monday, attacking Raman's positions on homelessness and public safety.
Despite the fact that news organizations have made their own determinations in the mayor's race, the results are not official.
The registrar will report additional ballot-count results no more than once daily through June 26 until all ballots are counted, according to the office.
The next count will be released on Tuesday between 4 and 5 p.m.
Ballots are mailed to every eligible voter and they are counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at an election office within seven days. California law allows elections officials up to 30 days to complete the official canvass and process eligible ballots that remain outstanding.
Los Angeles, like other counties in California, processes and counts mail ballots in roughly the order they are received, so the last ones returned are the last ones counted.
Since election night, the county has been processing and releasing results from mail ballots that arrived later.
Election data shows that large numbers of Democrats held onto their mail ballots and returned them in the race’s final days, in part due to the crowded and chaotic gubernatorial contest. That helps explain why Bass and Raman have been doing better than Pratt in the votes counted since primary day, the AP reported.
County elections officials must submit their final results to the Secretary of State by July 3. The Secretary of State is scheduled to certify the election results by July 10.
After Raman overtook him Sunday, Pratt in a social media post drew parallels to the number of votes gained by Raman in Sunday's count and a reported number of homeless people sleeping on the city's streets, suggesting some sort of connection between the two.
President Donald Trump — who backed Pratt's candidacy — has repeatedly accused California Democrats of rigging the election, despite offering no evidence to support the claim. He walked out of an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" over the weekend after he was questioned about those claims.
Trump renewed his criticisms on Monday, claiming it was "not possible" for Pratt to have been overtaken by Raman after the initial ballot count. "Rigged Elections!," Trump wrote.
The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office confirmed that an official from the U.S. Attorney's Office inspected the main county vote-processing center on Friday.
"Our office was notified late Thursday that the U.S. Attorney's Office would be sending an Assistant U.S. attorney to the Ballot Processing Center to observe ballot processing activities. The individual arrived Friday morning, was provided an overview of the public observation program, and participated in a walk-through of the ballot processing operations," according to the Registrar's Office.
"Ballot processing in Los Angeles County is open to public observation, and election officials routinely host observers representing a wide range of interests, including members of the public, candidates, political parties, advocacy organizations, and government agencies.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber said Thursday that voters awaiting final returns from the primary election should expect vote totals to continue changing for several weeks.
"Accuracy comes before speed," Weber said in a statement. "California is the nation's largest voting state, with millions of ballots to process and count. Taking the time to do this work correctly protects voters' rights and ensures the integrity of our elections."
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
Material from the Associated Press and City News Service was used in this report.
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