Sheriff, State Elections Chief Clash over County-Level Probe

[RandySF]

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber Friday criticized Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s decision to assign local law enforcement personnel to carry out a probe into possible election irregularities, amid his quest to be the Republican gubernatorial candidate.

“The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office has taken actions based on allegations that lack credible evidence and risk undermining public confidence in our elections.,” Weber said. “The sheriff’s assertion that his deputies know how to count is admirable. The fact remains that he and his deputies are not elections officials, and they do not have expertise in election administration.”

Bianco has tasked personnel with looking into possible discrepancies that surfaced in last November’s special election, based on findings provided by election watchdog group Riverside Election Integrity Team.

During a workshop in February, REIT announced there had been 45,800 ballots counted beyond the number publicly documented in election records.



https://mynewsla.com/crime/2026/03/20/sheriff-state-elections-chief-clash-over-county-level-probe/

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. MaddowBlog-Why it's so unsettling to see a Republican sheriff seizing ballots in California

On the heels of the FBI’s seizure of ballots in Georgia, a GOP sheriff has done the same thing in California. The fear is that a template is taking shape.

On the heels of the FBI seizing ballots in Georgia in response to conspiracy theories, a Republican sheriff in California decided to seize ballots in California — also in response to conspiracy theories.

The fear is that a template is taking shape.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-03-24T13:02:28.929Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/why-its-so-unsettling-to-see-a-republican-sheriff-seizing-ballots-in-california

In late January, Donald Trump and his team deployed FBI agents to raid an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, walking away with what local sources called “pallets of ballots.” There was no credible reason to execute such a raid, which was driven by the president’s absurd election conspiracy theories, and it led to speculation about whether, when and where more ballots might be seized.

Roughly seven weeks later, The New York Times reported:

A Republican sheriff who is running for governor of California recently seized more than 650,000 ballots cast in a 2025 statewide election, prompting criticism from the state’s top election official, who said the sheriff’s concerns about fraud ‘lack credible evidence.’

The sheriff, Chad Bianco, on Friday said he was investigating allegations by an election activist group that vote tallies did not match the number of ballots received. … His office confirmed the ballot seizure and investigation on Sunday.

At issue is last year’s Proposition 50 election in the Golden State, which cleared the way for a redistricting plan that will benefit Democratic candidates, as a counter to a comparable plan in Texas that will benefit GOP candidates. Voters in California overwhelmingly supported the effort, approving the ballot measure by nearly 30 points.....

At its root, this is a story about a Republican official whose office has literally nothing to do with election administration, in his county or anywhere else, who decided to seize election materials in response to assorted conspiratorial complaints. This comes on the heels of Trump sending the FBI to seize election materials in Georgia in response to other assorted conspiratorial complaints.

The broader concern is that a template is taking shape, offering precedents for law enforcement to start making plans to seize ballots in areas nationwide — after or even during official counts.

What’s more, the more frequently this happens, the more Americans may be led to believe it’s normal and routine for law enforcement officials to seize and impound ballots — despite the fact that this is neither normal nor routine. Watch this space.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. 'A dangerous precedent': California AG sues to stop 'amateur' recount of ballots seized by GOP sheriff

This idiot sheriff is going to lose this lawsuit

Link to tweet

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/a-dangerous-precedent-california-ag-sues-to-stop-amateur-recount-of-ballots-seized-by-gop-sheriff/

The California Attorney General’s office has asked a court to immediately pause a Republican county sheriff’s investigation into last year’s redistricting referendum election, arguing his seizure of more than 650,000 ballots “threatens to create a dangerous precedent.”

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s move to take custody of the ballots is the third major attack on elections in recent weeks, following the FBI’s conspiracy-fueled raid of a Georgia elections office and an FBI subpoena seeking documents related to an Arizona election audit, which both focused on the 2020 presidential vote.

But a local law enforcement officer seizing all ballots cast in an election is “unprecedented in state history,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said.

Bonta filed the lawsuit Monday night in state appellate court, asking the court to issue an immediate stay of the investigation behind the ballot seizure and to compel Bianco to comply with his office’s orders.

“The Sheriff’s actions — launching an unprecedented criminal investigation into the special election without identifying any particular crime that may have been committed by anyone, and openly defying the Attorney General’s lawful directives — demand immediate judicial intervention,” the filing said.