California’s Supreme Court ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return about 650,000 ballots seized in February after a citizens group questioned the 2025 special-election count. The court called the seizure unlawful; Bianco says he will comply, though he disagrees.
The citizens group claimed there was a roughly 45,000-vote gap between ballots cast and ballots received in Riverside County. County Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco said it had misread the data: the actual gap was 103, within the margin of error set by California’s secretary of state.
The justices said state election law requires ballots to remain in election officials’ custody and control, even during a criminal investigation; a search warrant cannot override that rule. They also ruled Attorney General Rob Bonta’s orders bind county sheriffs. Bonta had ordered Bianco to return the ballots, but he did not. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Saturday that would prevent anyone from seizing ballots.
