[CLSTR]
< Back to situations

Monitor this situation.

[SITUATION] · [ACTIVE] · [POLITICS]

2 clusters · 36 sources · 3 days · First seen · Last updated

Riverside County ballot seizure legal dispute

Overview

The California Supreme Court issued unanimous rulings against Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco regarding the seizure of approximately 650,000 ballots from a 2025 special election. The seizure was prompted by claims from the Riverside Election Integrity Team that vote tallies from a redistricting referendum, known as Proposition 50, did not align with the number of ballots received. While activists alleged a discrepancy of nearly 46,000 votes, election officials stated the actual discrepancy was only 103 votes.

The court declared the seizure unlawful, noting that state law requires voted ballots to remain under the custody of election officials even during criminal investigations. Associate Justice Goodwin H. Liu characterized the incident as the “unlawful removal and handling by armed deputies of over 1,000 boxes of documents.” Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero further noted that ballots must remain in the custody of election officials during active criminal probes.

Additionally, the justices ruled that Bianco violated the law by ignoring directives from Attorney General Rob Bonta to halt the investigation. The court affirmed the Attorney General’s constitutional authority to issue binding directions to sheriffs to ensure uniform law enforcement. Consequently, the court ordered the immediate return of all seized materials to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters and ruled that Bianco must cease his criminal investigation into the election results unless he receives explicit permission from Attorney General Bonta.

Entities

Riverside County · California Supreme Court · Chad Bianco · Rob Bonta · Clarissa Cervantes

Claims

What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.

Coverage disagrees

Sources make claims that cannot both be true. CLSTR reports the disagreement; it does not decide who is right.

  • "The Riverside Election Integrity Team alleged a discrepancy of 45,896 votes between precinct logs and the certified count." www.thethinkingconservative.com · justthenews.com

    vs

    "Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco stated the actual vote gap was only 103 votes." www.thethinkingconservative.com

    The claims assert different numbers for the vote discrepancy: 45,896 votes versus 103 votes.

Timeline

  1. about 14 hours ago

    [POLITICS] 11 sources
    Riverside County Sheriff ordered to return 650,000 seized ballots

    The California Supreme Court ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return 650,000 seized ballots and halt his investigation into alleged election irregularities without state approval.

  2. 3 days ago

    [POLITICS] 25 sources
    Riverside County Sheriff ordered to return 650,000 seized ballots

    The California Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco unlawfully seized 650,000 ballots and must return them to election officials.

Sources

1053rnb.com · 92q.com · abc7.com · almanacnews.com · americanfaith.com · dailypilot.com · danvillesanramon.com · durangoherald.com · freerepublic.com · independent.com · joemygod.com · justthenews.com · kaaltv.com · kissrichmond.com · kysdc.com · laopinion.com · latimes.com · livermorevine.com · looniepolitics.com · mundonow.com · mv-voice.com · mynewsla.com · newrepublic.com · newsday.com · paloaltoonline.com · praisehouston.com · rickeysmileymorningshow.com · rwcpulse.com · talkingpointsmemo.com · thebuzzcincy.com · themorninghustle.com · thethinkingconservative.com · troyrecord.com · winnipegfreepress.com · woldcnews.com · wtop.com

This summary has been updated 1 time: see revision history