On June 8’s episode of “The View,” Alyssa Farah Griffin and Sunny Hostin sparred over why Los Angeles—and California more broadly—has not yet finalized ballot counting for the mayoral primary. The tension played out against Republican claims of voter fraud, af
For the third morning of slow ballot counting, there was plenty of room for anger—at least on “The View.” On the Monday, June 8 episode, Alyssa Farah Griffin and Sunny Hostin went back and forth over delays in California’s vote tabulation, a sticking point Republicans say signals voter fraud.
The argument landed in the middle of a live political moment. With ballots still not finalized for the Los Angeles mayoral race, Republican mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt was trailing progressive Los Angeles City Council member Nithya Raman for second place.
The conversation also echoed a national refrain. The show played a clip of President Donald Trump telling NBC News’ Kristen Welker that election rigging is “happening again right now in California,” without offering any evidence to prove his claim.
Whoopi Goldberg wasn’t buying the framing. “Why is it every time they lose, it’s election fraud? And every time we win, it’s election fraud? Why is it always fraud?” she asked.
Griffin responded that Trump’s win-and-lose logic is exactly why the fraud accusations don’t travel the way their makers think they do. “That right there is kind of the point,” Griffin said. “You don’t have a lot of Republicans screaming that the 2024 election was stolen, because Donald Trump won.”
She pushed further, tying the claim of wrongdoing to a longer memory of disputed results. “For folks who are still believing these lies, you’ve had six years to prove that. You have had countless times to put up or shut up,” Griffin continued. “And we have seen no credible evidence. But the problem is that it sticks with people. As many as 60% of Republicans still believe the 2020 election was stolen.”.
That 2020 election dispute is part of the backdrop for how today’s delays are being read. Following the 2020 election, Republicans filed dozens of lawsuits alleging fraud in states like Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona, and courts dismissed or rejected nearly all of them.
The show then pivoted to the mechanics of counting. Griffin made a point that surprised some of her cohosts, arguing that the longer the process drags on, the easier it is for people to distrust elections.
“But I will say, people tend to not trust elections when it takes a real long time to count votes,” Griffin said.
She suggested changes that could accelerate results. “L.A. — and California in general — need to figure out how to do this quicker. Change the laws so you can do it in one day. Florida has a lot of mail-in and they get their results the same night. It makes people feel like. ‘Oh. there’s something off. ’ but it’s not — that’s how their rules are. ” she said.
Hostin pushed back hard. “I feel the exact opposite,” she said. “I think if someone is taking their time to count the votes. I think if someone is looking at every single thing — because in California. it’s the most populous state. We all know that. And they actually have signature verification. … They look at every single signature. And if those signatures do not match what they have on file. they then go back to the person and they say. ‘Was this you?’ And so. it does take a long time to be right. to do it well.”.
The tension sharpened when Griffin compared California to Florida again. “Why can Florida do it right in one night, though?” she asked.
Hostin replied with an argument about scale. “I don’t think you can do it when you have 23 million registered voters. It’s just not possible!” she said.
Griffin disagreed. “I think it is,” she answered. “It’s the mail-in voting, they don’t start counting it until Election Day. You could start counting it before.”
Hostin countered that the numbers make that hard to dismiss. “But it accounts for 80% of those votes!” she replied.
They also sparred over how Florida’s system differs from California’s. Hostin laid out that Florida’s early in-person voting ends two to three days before Election Day. and mail-in ballots cannot be dropped off at precincts on Election Day—factors that she said give the state a head start on counting.
The on-air dispute unfolded while the Los Angeles mayoral primary remained unresolved. Mayor Karen Bass was already guaranteed a place in the runoff, leaving the question of who would take the remaining slot. Pratt and Raman were competing for second.
Raman had moved ahead of Pratt for second place. and the gap was narrow enough to keep attention locked on each new update. Raman held 27.1% of the vote compared with 26.7% for Pratt. Pratt built a strong social media following during the campaign. while Raman—an experienced progressive member of the Los Angeles City Council—sat just 0.4 points behind.
In a race decided by a fraction, the debate over how quickly votes are counted isn’t just theoretical. On “The View. ” it turned into a fight over trust: whether speed should be the priority. or whether careful verification is exactly what voters should be able to expect—even when the results take time.
The View Alyssa Farah Griffin Sunny Hostin Whoopi Goldberg Los Angeles mayoral primary ballot counting California election Spencer Pratt Nithya Raman Karen Bass Donald Trump voter fraud claims mail-in ballots signature verification Florida voting process