California Election Administration

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.