Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman overtook reality TV star Spencer Pratt five days after California's early June primary, flipping the race as late-arriving mail ballots were counted. A new analysis from the R Street Institute, published June 17, 2026, argues the delay was both predictable and avoidable — the result of state election policies that prioritize access over speed. The report calls for California to adopt an Election Day deadline for mail ballots and shorten its unusually long ballot-curing period to deliver timely results even in close contests.
Initial Election Day results showed Pratt in second place behind incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, with Raman trailing in third. But as election workers processed late-arriving mail ballots, Raman gained ground and ultimately overtook Pratt five days later. With 99 percent of ballots now counted, Pratt ended up with 25.5 percent of the vote — nearly matching the level of support President Trump received in Los Angeles in 2024, despite over half of registered voters being Democrats compared to just 15 percent Republicans. California accepts mail ballots postmarked by Election Day even if they arrive up to seven days later, and the state's ballot-curing deadline for the 2026 primary is June 24 — three weeks after the election.
The report finds that this combination of voter behavior and election policy created the situation that played out in the mayoral race, with Pratt's lead evaporating as officials processed the late-arriving mail ballots. According to the analysis, the scenario "unnecessarily creates an environment in which voters may question the legitimacy of election results" after watching their preferred candidate lose following an early lead. The authors write that in most elections, the public remains unaware of timing issues because the margin of victory is large enough for winners to be projected early, but competitive races expose the system's shortcomings.
The report explains that late-arriving ballots skewed Democratic because while Pratt was the only option for L.A. Republicans, Democrats had a choice between Bass and Raman — raising the chances that some voters would hold their ballots before deciding which candidate to support. California's voting laws maximize the time voters have to cast ballots, and state law provides an extensive timeframe for voters to correct ballot envelopes with missing or mismatched signatures, which can further delay determining the winner in close elections. The analysis notes that 36 states already require mail ballots to arrive by Election Day, and that California's ballot-curing period of over three weeks is far beyond the more common five to 10 days used in the 34 states that have adopted signature-correction policies.
The report recommends California adopt an Election Day mail-ballot deadline for all elections in the state, noting there's little evidence that current policy improves voter turnout in any meaningful way. The authors argue that lawmakers should adopt policies that simplify the ballot processing timeline rather than hoping for uncompetitive campaigns where timing is a non-issue. The 2026 primary shows that access at the expense of timely results can create an environment that allows distrust in the process to take root.