The California Supreme Court ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return the over 650,000 ballots he seized in February to county election officials on Thursday, delivering a blow to his goal of investigating alleged election fraud in a November 2025 election.
The Republican sheriff and former 2026 gubernatorial candidate seized the over half a million county ballots after a local election integrity group warned about a possible 45,000-vote discrepancy in the county’s vote count on California’s Proposition 50 ballots. Riverside County voted in favor of the redistricting ballot initiative by about 80,000 votes, according to local outlets, which is larger than the alleged discrepancy.
Riverside County voters sued Bianco, saying he seized the ballots illegally for his investigation into alleged voter fraud, while Bianco argued he acted in line with the law, having received two search warrants from Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jay Kiel to retrieve the ballots. On Thursday, the state supreme court ruled against Bianco, saying he violated the state elections code.
The justices ruled unanimously that Bianco must return the ballots to county elections officials, in line with state law that reads, as state Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero quoted in her opinion, “‘In no event’ shall voted ballots ‘be taken from the custody of the elections official.’”
“This clear custodial command safeguards the integrity of our elections by protecting ballots from alteration, tampering, or other improper interference,” Guerrero wrote.
Bianco argued that his seizure of the ballots was lawful because of the warrants and that he was conducting a criminal investigation into possible election fraud. But the state Supreme Court denied this reasoning.
“If election misconduct is suspected, the Elections Code provides several mechanisms for law enforcement to review and examine ballots without compromising their integrity,” Guerrero wrote. “But those procedures were not followed and the type of seizure that occurred here directly conflicts with the Elections Code’s carefully considered and controlling provisions.”
The case did not address whether voter fraud occurred in the election, but instead only hinged on the legality of Bianco’s ballot seizure. The court ruled Bianco must return the ballots to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters immediately.
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The state Supreme Court had previously ordered Bianco to temporarily pause his investigation into the alleged election fraud while the court ruled on the legality of the ballot seizure. In that order, California Attorney General Rob Bonta had sued to halt the investigation.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to Bianco for comment.