California Supreme Court Orders Sheriff to Return 650,000 Ballots
The California Supreme Court on Thursday ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return more than 650,000 ballots seized by his department earlier in 2026, ruling the seizure violated state election law. The Guardian
Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero authored the opinion. She wrote that “allowing law enforcement unfettered access to ballots, or to handle and count them in secret based on unregulated protocols, creates a substantial risk to election integrity.” Police, in short, cannot handle votes under their own secret rules.
The ballots were cast in the November 2025 special election on redistricting. AP Voters approved Proposition 50, a redistricting plan designed to counteract Republican-led gerrymandering in Texas. It passed statewide and carried Riverside County by roughly 80,000 votes.
After the vote, a Riverside County citizen activist group claimed a discrepancy in the total count. Local election officials said the claim was unfounded. The Sheriff’s Department then obtained search warrants and took custody of ballots and other election materials to pursue fraud claims.
Court records show Bianco instructed his staff to conduct their own recount of the seized material. Court filing The litigation reached the Supreme Court as docket S295866, a petition for writ of mandate on the seizure, with related exhibits filed under case S295901 on Bianco’s investigation and custody of the ballots.
Attorney General Rob Bonta challenged the seizure, arguing Bianco had no authority over election materials. Bonta warned the action was “designed to sow distrust in elections.” He ordered Bianco to return the ballots. Bianco did not return them.
Bianco’s attorneys argued the attorney general cannot direct a sheriff on an active investigation. In a separate Thursday ruling, Guerrero rejected the view that the state’s chief law enforcement officer “must remain a mere bystander to a sheriff’s investigation of statewide significance.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom praised the decision as “affirming California will defend democracy.” Newsom has signed legislation preventing seizures like Bianco’s. Bianco, a Republican sheriff, ran unsuccessfully for California governor in 2026. NBC News In January, the Trump administration seized ballots and other documents from an election office in Georgia.
The broader context here is jurisdictional as much as electoral. California law assigns custody, audits and contests of voted ballots to election officials and courts, not to county law enforcement acting under general search-warrant authority. The court clarified two boundaries: ballots cannot be removed and recounted under unregulated police protocols, and the attorney general can intervene when a local investigation touches statewide elections. The immediate task is remediation of custody and confidence in the 2025 result.
