I lived in California for a couple of years, and I agree it's *very* annoying that the state takes so long to count ballots. But Spencer Pratt losing ground is not a conspiracy. It's totally predictable.
CA allows voters to *send* their ballots on Election Day. They have a week to get there, so some ballots that will still be counted have yet to even arrive. Left-leaning people are more likely to vote by mail. Right-leaning peopleโof which there are fewer in LAโare more skeptical of it, so it easily follows that more Pratt voters would vote at the actual ballot box. This is not rocket science.
Maybe California's laws should change. A week after an election is a very long time to still be accepting ballots, and it damages trust in the process. But a registered Republican heading for a loss in one of the most progressive cities in the world is not a shocker.