SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Legal battles intensified this week as California’s top prosecutor and voting rights advocates moved to stop a Republican sheriff and gubernatorial candidate from confiscating and manually recounting more than 650,000 ballots from a recent election.
The controversy centers on Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who launched what he calls an investigation into ballot counting from a November 2025 special redistricting election. Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta is pushing courts to intervene quickly, while Bianco has expanded his operation by taking an additional 426 boxes of voting materials this week from county election offices.
A Riverside County judge conducted a hearing Friday regarding Bonta’s motion to expedite the legal proceedings. Bianco maintains his actions are justified and court-approved.
“We are conducting a lawful investigation, approved by a judge,” Bianco stated. “I think the failed democratic candidates are just trying to rally a base for their own political benefit.”
The UCLA Voting Rights Project filed a separate challenge Thursday with the state Supreme Court, contending that Bianco’s ballot seizure breaks California election law.
Bianco, among the leading GOP contenders for governor, initiated his probe after a local citizens organization questioned the vote tally in the special election. He described the effort as “a fact-finding mission” targeting ballots in Riverside County, an inland region home to 2.5 million residents where Bianco has won election as sheriff twice. County election administrators previously informed the Board of Supervisors that the citizens’ complaint lacked merit.
The sheriff announced plans for his department to physically tally every ballot and match those numbers against official results reported to state authorities. The manual count is proceeding under sheriff’s personnel with oversight from a court-appointed special master, though Bianco has not specified when the process will finish.
Bonta’s initial attempt to halt the recount was rejected by an appeals court due to improper filing location. He has since resubmitted the case to a lower court.
“Absent swift action by this Court, the Sheriff’s misguided investigation threatens to sow distrust and jeopardize public confidence in the upcoming primary and general elections, not just in Riverside County but around the State,” Bonta’s legal filing states. “It also sets a dangerous precedent that could invite future attempts to improperly contest election results through a misuse of law enforcement authority and the criminal process.”
Bianco, a Trump supporter, says he secured judicial warrants authorizing the ballot seizure. He claims the vote discrepancy totals approximately 45,800 ballots — a figure county election officials have disputed in public meetings, maintaining that machine tallies and final state submissions varied by roughly 100 votes. Officials explain that handwritten records, which weren’t used for verification purposes, were maintained by temporary election staff working extended shifts who may have made recording errors.
The UCLA Voting Rights Project is requesting the state Supreme Court compel Bianco to return the seized ballots, arguing he lacks legal authority for the confiscation on behalf of several Riverside County residents.
“Law enforcement officials are legally prohibited from interfering in counting ballots, in California and nationwide,” said former state attorney general Xavier Becerra, a Democrat seeking the governor’s office who advises the voting rights organization. “A candidate for Governor should know the law and lead by example, not weaponize his law enforcement office for political gain.”
This ballot investigation unfolds as President Trump continues challenging 2020 election outcomes, claiming unproven fraud occurred. Trump’s administration recently confiscated ballots and related documents from a Georgia election facility. Several Republican officials have adopted similar rhetoric about voting procedures in their respective states.
