California's voting system designed to reward the most fraudulent, Guatemalan paper claims

California's electoral system, particularly in Los Angeles, is designed in a way that is "absurdly manipulable," according to an opinion piece in Guatemala's Prensa Libre. The author suggests that if Guatemala had a similar system, it would face severe international condemnation for its lack of transparency and decency.

The article points to the "ballot harvesting" practice, legalized in California eight years ago, which allows any individual to collect, fill out, and submit absentee ballots for others. This, combined with a lenient policy where all registered voters receive a ballot by mail and minimal identification is required to register, creates a system ripe for exploitation. The author notes that in the recent Los Angeles mayoral election, only 20% of votes were cast in person, with the remaining 80% sent by mail.

Adding to the criticism, the article highlights that mail-in ballots are supposed to be postmarked by election day, but in practice, this rule is often bypassed, with the principle that "every vote must be counted" taking precedence. Furthermore, election officials are reportedly not permitted to demand identification from voters.

The piece then delves into the peculiar vote count for the Los Angeles mayoral race. Initially, in-person votes showed Spencer Pratt leading, followed by Karen Bass and Nithya Raman. However, as mail-in ballots were processed, particularly those arriving after election day, Raman's vote share saw a "meteoric jump," while Pratt's declined. This statistical anomaly, the author implies, raises serious questions about the integrity of the vote-counting process.