Riverside County Sheriff Pauses Prop 50 Ballot Seizure Probe Amid California Supreme Court Challenges
Riverside County Sheriff Bianco says he has paused an election‑fraud investigation into seized ballots, calling lawsuits and court filings “politically motivated”; the seizure allegedly included more than 650,000 ballots in roughly 1,000 boxes from a November 2025 special redistricting election and another 426 boxes taken after the attorney general ordered him to stop. The UCLA Voting Rights Project has asked the California Supreme Court to order the ballots returned, arguing state law requires voted ballots remain with election officials, while Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office says it will continue legal petitions focused on Bianco’s actions amid findings by local election officials that a citizens group’s Prop 50 ballot‑discrepancy complaint was unfounded.
📌 Key Facts
- Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has paused his election-fraud investigation into Prop 50 ballots, saying the pause is due to "politically motivated" lawsuits and court filings as legal challenges in California escalate.
- The seizure involved more than 650,000 voted ballots from the November 2025 special redistricting election — taken in about 1,000 boxes — and an additional 426 boxes were removed after the California attorney general ordered Bianco to stop.
- The UCLA Voting Rights Project filed a petition on behalf of Riverside County voters asking the California Supreme Court to order Bianco to return the ballots, arguing state law requires voted ballots to remain in election officials’ custody.
- California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said it will continue petitions in both the California Supreme Court and the superior court, stressing its legal actions target Bianco’s conduct (the seizure) rather than his public statements.
- Local election officials told the Riverside County Board of Supervisors that a citizens group's complaint alleging a ballot discrepancy in the Prop 50 special election was unfounded.
📊 Relevant Data
In California, elections officials rejected 122,480 vote-by-mail ballots during the November 2024 general election, representing 0.9% of all ballots cast, with the primary reason being signature mismatches or non-matches.
2024 election: One in every 100 California ballots dismissed — The Sacramento Bee
Riverside County, California, had a population of approximately 2,419,967 in 2020, with a 5.2% increase by 2025; the racial and ethnic composition includes 50.5% Hispanic or Latino, 32.2% White alone (not Hispanic or Latino), 6.5% Black or African American alone, and 7.1% Asian alone.
Riverside County, California - U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts — U.S. Census Bureau
From 2010 to 2022, Riverside County's population increased by about 13.5%, driven largely by immigration and domestic migration, with the Hispanic population growing from 45.5% in 2010 to over 50% by 2022.
Riverside County, CA population by year, race, & more — USAFacts
A literature review on voter fraud in California from 2020-2024 found that election experts overwhelmingly rejected claims of widespread fraud during the 2020 elections, with minimal proven instances identified in media and academic sources.
CRB Literature Review on Voter Fraud in California, 2020-2024 — California State Library
Nationwide, proven instances of voter fraud are rare; the Heritage Foundation's database lists approximately 1,500 cases across the U.S. since the 1980s, representing a tiny fraction of billions of votes cast.
Heritage Database | Election Fraud Map — The Heritage Foundation
📰 Source Timeline (2)
Follow how coverage of this story developed over time
- Bianco now says his office has paused the election-fraud investigation, citing "politically motivated" lawsuits and court filings.
- Associated Press specifies the seizure involved more than 650,000 ballots in 1,000 boxes from the November 2025 special redistricting election, plus another 426 boxes taken after the attorney general ordered him to stop.
- The UCLA Voting Rights Project has filed a petition on behalf of Riverside County voters asking the California Supreme Court to order Bianco to return the ballots, arguing state law requires voted ballots to remain in election officials’ custody.
- Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office says it will continue petitions in both the California Supreme Court and superior court and stresses it is focused on Bianco’s actions, not his statements.
- Local election officials told the county Board of Supervisors last month that the citizens group’s complaint about a ballot discrepancy in the Prop 50 special election was unfounded.