The Los Angeles mayoral race just got a lot more interesting.

Spencer Pratt, the reality-TV star turned political candidate, says his campaign has filed a formal complaint accusing Mayor Karen Bass of violating California election law after she posted a campaign video near a ballot drop box during early voting.

On May 25, Bass posted a video to X urging voters to drop off their ballots at voting centers and drop boxes throughout the city. The clip featured campaign signs, a baby in “Babies for Bass” gear, and footage near what appears to be an official ballot drop box.

Pratt fired back the next day, calling it a blatant violation of election law and announcing the formal complaint.

The Washington Examiner laid out the complaint details this way:

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Pratt’s attorney Peter McNulty submitted the complaint to Los Angeles City Clerk Patrice Lattimore. The complaint says Bass violated election code based on the video she posted and alleges no person may engage in electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place or ballot drop box.

The filing argues the problem was not merely proximity. Pratt’s side says the video showed Bass, supporters, campaign signs, and ballot drop-off activity wrapped into one public campaign message during early voting.

McNulty argued that Bass showed herself and others submitting ballots into drop boxes while electioneering, soliciting votes, and promoting that activity across social media. The complaint asks city officials to investigate the alleged violations and treat them as more than a campaign squabble.

Pratt framed the complaint as a demand for equal enforcement, not a limit on political speech. The timing matters because ballots are already moving in Los Angeles, and the June 2 primary is close enough that a late election-law fight can immediately shape voter trust.

The complaint also puts the city clerk in an awkward position because Bass appointed Patrice Lattimore in September 2025.

The law Pratt’s team is citing is not obscure or ambiguous.

The relevant California election law is where the fight gets concrete:

Section 319.5 defines electioneering as visible display or audible dissemination of information advocating for or against a candidate or measure within the 100-foot limit. The listed examples include displaying a candidate’s name, likeness, or logo, along with campaign apparel, campaign signs, stickers, buttons, hats, pencils, and pens.

The statute also covers audible electioneering and activity at vote-by-mail ballot drop boxes. It specifically lists obstructing access to, loitering near, or disseminating visible or audible electioneering information at drop boxes as prohibited activity.

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The 100-foot restriction applies to the entrance of a polling-place building, an elections official’s office, a satellite location, or an outdoor site where a voter may cast or drop off a ballot. That is why the exact location of the signs, the voters, and the ballot box becomes the center of this fight.

In other words, this turns on distance, display, and solicitation.

The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk publishes its own electioneering guidance reinforcing that rule. Within 100 feet of polling places, curbside voting areas, or drop boxes, no one may ask a person to vote for or against a candidate, display a candidate’s name, image, or logo, block access or loiter near drop boxes, or distribute electioneering material.

Bass campaign spokesperson Alex Stack denied any wrongdoing, claiming the campaign-sign footage and the drop-box footage were filmed at separate locations roughly 200 feet apart.

That defense will need to hold up under scrutiny. The video Bass posted splices the footage together into a single campaign message, and Pratt’s legal team clearly believes the combined presentation constitutes a violation regardless of where individual clips were shot.

The complaint lands at a critical moment in the race. A recent Emerson poll showed Bass leading with 30%, Pratt at 22%, and City Councilmember Nithya Raman at 19%, with 16% of voters still undecided.

If no candidate clears 50% in the June 2 primary, the top two finishers advance to a November runoff.

Pratt has made election integrity a centerpiece of his unlikely but very real campaign. Whether or not this complaint results in any formal action, it puts Bass on defense at exactly the wrong time and forces her to explain why her team thought filming campaign content near a ballot drop box was a good idea in the first place.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at WLTReport. View the original article here.

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