Following Republican candidate Spencer Pratt's loss in the Los Angeles mayoral primary election to Democrats Karen Bass and Nithya Raman, a MAGA account on X was quickly fact-checked after claiming 675 ballots for Pratt were found in a dumpster in a California city that doesn't exist.
At one stage of the race, Pratt held an eight-point advantage over Raman in the battle for second place. But as election officials continued counting mail-in ballots in the days following the election, his lead steadily narrowed. By the time more votes were tabulated, Raman had overtaken him.
Republicans have since alleged fraud took place, but many of the fraud allegations appear to stem from a misunderstanding of how California counts votes, particularly the time required to complete the process.
California uses a nonpartisan "jungle" primary system, in which the top two vote-getters advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation. Because the state relies heavily on mail-in voting and must process millions of ballots, final results in major races can take days or even weeks to be fully certified.
The MAGA account Paul White Gold Eagle, which regularly posts conspiracy theories, issued the following post capitalizing on these claims:
"BREAKING: 675 ballots for Spencer Pratt found in a dumpster in San Recto. Federal authorities are on scene. Let the games begin."
But there's a big problem: the city of San Recto doesn't exist. A Community Note beneath the post points out that there is no city named San Recto in California, "making the claim of ballots found there impossible."
You can see the post below.
Even with that fact-check, MAGA fans fell for it hook, line, and sinker.
The mockery was swift.
Clearly MAGA needs to learn how elections in California work... and we should probably throw in some basic geography lessons while we're at it.
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