la mayor race results: Fact Check on Viral Claim of Last-Minute Ballot Dump Changing the Winner
A viral rumor is spreading that Karen Bass defeated Rick Caruso in the Los Angeles mayor race only because of a mysterious last-minute ballot dump of 200,000 votes after midnight. Let’s verify this. Here are the official certified results: With 100% of precincts reporting, Karen Bass won with 53.3% of the vote (449,105 votes) to Rick Caruso’s 46.7% (392,700 votes). The Los Angeles County Registrar’s office confirms that no ballot dump occurred after midnight on election night—votes were processed continuously, and mail-in ballots require verifying signatures, which takes time. The claim of a sudden spike is fake; it stems from a misinterpretation of the normal count of vote-by-mail ballots, which tend to lean Democratic. In reality, Bass held a consistent lead throughout the count. So, the viral claim is false—there was no fraudulent ballot dump. The election results are accurate as certified.