Some Republicans, including President Donald Trump, are screaming about “rigged” elections in California, but their unsubstantiated allegations are not adding up.
Progressive city council member Nithya Raman inched ahead of reality TV personality Spencer Pratt to take on Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in the mayoral runoff in November, as more ballots have slowly been counted.
California is largely a vote-by-mail state, and officials are required by law to count all ballots postmarked by Election Day and received within seven days of the election, so the results come in much more slowly than in other states, frustrating voters and candidates alike.
It’s been nearly a week since the election, and Raman only recently pulled ahead of Pratt, a Republican running as an Independent, as more mail-in ballots have been counted. Democrats are much more likely to vote by mail, as Trump himself has desperately attempted to discredit it for years.
While MAGA Republicans have accused California of “rigging” the election, CNN data analyst Harry Enten pointed out early Monday why the latest conspiracy theory does not add up.
“This is the dumbest conspiracy theory I have ever heard because the Democratic establishment and Karen Bass wanted Spencer Pratt in the runoff,” Enten said.
He pointed out that Bass would not want Raman in the runoff because she makes it much harder for Bass to win her reelection than Pratt would in the deep-blue city come November.
In a runoff against Pratt, Bass would be up 18 points, according to the polling, Enten pointed out. However, in a runoff against Raman, Bass is down by four points.
“Bass has a real race on her hands if, in fact, Raman is the one who advances, and of course the Democratic establishment is backing Karen Bass,” Enten said. “But versus Spencer Pratt, she was crushing him.”
“She wanted to face Pratt; she wanted nothing to do with Raman. That’s why these conspiracy theories, simply put, make no sense, people,” Enten ranted.
However, the reality has not stopped some like Trump from raging about the California elections, despite a lack of evidence.
The president became unhinged when he was challenged by Kristen Welker, host of “Meet the Press,” to provide any evidence to back his claim that the elections in California were rigged in an interview taped on Friday.
Trump did not point to any proof but instead started yelling at Welker and accused the veteran journalist of being “crooked” or “stupid” before cutting off the interview short and storming out.
As of Monday morning, Raman was up by more than 3,100 votes on Pratt with 83 percent of the votes counted.
The final results on who would advance to the runoff against Bass have not yet been officially called, with one day still to go before the deadline for postmarked mail-in ballots to be received. Election officials also have a full 30 days after the election to count ballots in the state, so final results must be reported by July 3.
