California Supreme Court weighs sheriff's ballot seizure in Riverside County

The California Supreme Court on Monday heard oral arguments in a dispute over whether Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco must return approximately 650,000 ballots he seized from a November 2025 special election on redistricting. The measure passed in the county by a margin of roughly 80,000 votes.

Bianco, who was running for governor at the time, took custody of about 1,000 boxes of election materials in March after a local citizens group filed a complaint alleging the vote count was inaccurate. County election officials had earlier dismissed the complaint as unfounded. The sheriff's office began a recount under a court-appointed special master but suspended it days later, citing legal challenges from the state attorney general and a voting rights group. The ballots have not been returned.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit in March arguing the sheriff has no authority over election materials and that the seizure was intended to undermine public trust in elections. The UCLA Voting Rights Project also sued on behalf of several Riverside County voters. The state Supreme Court consolidated arguments in both cases.

Chad Dunn, legal director of the UCLA Voting Rights Project, told the court that election law provides specific mechanisms to contest results, and that Bianco failed to follow them. "Nowhere else in election law, in this state, in any other that I'm familiar with, does anybody get to handle ballots on their own in the back room with their deputies," Dunn said.

Bradley Hertz, representing Bianco, argued the sheriff had a legal duty to investigate the complaint and acted under the penal code, first obtaining search warrants in February. Hertz said the ballots are being held as evidence. "The sheriff is holding that evidence, safeguarding it as a custodian for the court," he said. He added that Bianco did not comply with Bonta's order to return the ballots because litigation was already underway.

Bianco, one of two prominent Republicans in the June primary, did not advance to the general election. He later announced plans to seek reelection as sheriff in 2028. Xavier Becerra, a former state attorney general and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, is part of the UCLA lawsuit.

The case comes amid broader national debates over election integrity, with former President Donald Trump and some Republicans questioning election results without substantiation. The Trump administration recently seized ballots and documents from an election office in Georgia.