Could a man who claimed in a viral video that he had a stack of unclaimed ballots mailed to voters who had moved use them to vote for Spencer Pratt for mayor of Los Angeles as he claimed? No, that's not true: The ballots appeared to be for a precinct in West Hollywood, which is a separate city from Los Angeles with its own mayor. Pratt's name would not be on those ballots.
The claim appeared in a video (archived here) uploaded to the @patriotwildman TikTok account on May 19, 2026. With the words "Spencer Pratt for LA Mayor No VOTER ID NEEDED!" on the screen, the unidentified man held what appeared to be four ballots as he said:
A whole lot of ballots in the mail. This many people do not live at this address. A lot of ballots, ballots for LA mayor. Yes, yes, yes. And every single one of these is gonna be filled out by one person and voting for Spencer Pratt, Spencer Pratt for mayor of LA, every single one of these ballots, and every single one of these ballots that just came in. We're going to vote for Spencer Pratt by mail. We're doing dozens of them, dozens of them, dozens of them.
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of video by @patriotwildman on TikTok)
The ballots in the man's hand did appear to be for California's June 2, 2026, statewide election, but the video only showed the instructions page for one of the ballots. A close examination, however, revealed the precinct number in the upper right corner indicating where the ballot was registered -- PCT: 7750005A:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of video by @patriotwildman on TikTok)
California voter data expert Paul Mitchell, vice president of the voter data firm Political Data Inc. (archived here), told Lead Stories by phone on May 20, 2026, that the precinct 7750005A is in West Hollywood, Calif., not Los Angeles. The West Hollywood precinct can be found on the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder website, as this screenshot shows:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of data.lacounty.gov)
Mitchell noted the city is not Los Angeles, as the West Hollywood government website states (archived here). West Hollywood has its own mayor and city council. The person in the video did not show the actual ballot with Pratt's name visible or with Pratt selected as a vote. Ballots sent to voters in West Hollywood would not include Pratt's name or the office of mayor of Los Angeles.
The caption on the video "No VOTER ID NEEDED!" is a reference to the California policy (archived here) found on the California Secretary of State website that says, "In most cases, a California voter is not required to show identification to a polling place worker before casting a ballot."
Mitchell explained that while an ID is not usually needed to cast a vote in person, one is needed to register to vote (archived here):
That's also one of the funny things about this. They act like people can register to vote who aren't citizens or who don't live here, but they do link people's registrations to their driver's licenses.
Mike Sanchez, communications manager for the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, explained the verification method of mail-in ballots to Lead Stories by email on May 21, 2026. He explained what would happen if one person filled out multiple ballots and mailed them in:
Each Vote by Mail ballot is issued to a specific registered voter and cannot be counted simply because it is completed and returned. Every returned ballot undergoes signature verification against the voter's registration record before it is counted.
Voters sign their ballot return envelope under penalty of perjury. Knowingly completing and returning another voter's ballot or attempting to return multiple ballots is unlawful. The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk takes any suspected voter fraud seriously, and unlawful activity will be referred to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.
Multiple ballots may be mailed to the same address for legitimate reasons, including multiple registered voters residing there or former residents who have not updated their registration. Obviously, we would need more details from the voter in the video to confirm what is being stated.
Sanchez confirmed to Lead Stories that the ballot shown in the video "appears to be located in West Hollywood and is not within the City of Los Angeles. Voters only receive contests for which they are eligible based on their residential address. Therefore, a ballot from that precinct would not include the Los Angeles mayoral contest." He explained how ballots are "traceable through voter records and ballot tracking systems, and our office can review issuance and return information where sufficient identifying details are available (and provided)."
Sanchez further stated, "The broader point is that videos like this should not be interpreted as evidence that ballots can be fraudulently cast and counted. Los Angeles County has multiple safeguards in place to verify voters, protect ballot integrity, and identify unauthorized activity."
