Court denies California's bid to halt Riverside sheriff's recount of 2025 election ballots

A California court on Tuesday quickly denied Attorney General Rob
Bonta’s request to halt the Riverside County Sheriff Department’s effort
to recount ballots from the November 2025 special election. 

In an unprecedented move, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a
Republican who is running for governor, seized roughly 650,000 ballots
and began conducting a recount of votes. At a press conference Friday,
he characterized the investigation as a “fact-finding mission” that is
intended “just as much to prove the election is accurate as it is to
show otherwise.” 

Bianco is neck-and-neck with Republican Steve Hilton for lead in the
race for governor, polls show. 

Bonta’s office this month ordered Bianco and the Riverside County
Sheriff Department to pause its work, citing “grave concerns” over the
legality of the criminal investigation. 

The state Justice Department instructed the sheriff’s department to
share any information that could substantiate its concerns in order to
understand the basis for the investigation. 

Those orders went unheeded, according to court filings. Bonta’s lawsuit
in the 4th District Court of Appeal, filed Monday, asked that the court
intervene in order “to prevent further abuse of the criminal process.” 
But a three-judge panel struck down Bonta’s request, writing that he
should have filed his complaint with the Riverside County court. Bonta’s
office said they were “evaluating next steps to ensure a swift and
appropriate resolution to this matter.” 

“The Sheriff has not identified any particular crime that may have been
committed by anyone — a necessary predicate to obtain a criminal search
warrant,” said the attorney general’s office in an earlier statement to
CalMatters. “The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office is not equipped nor
legally authorized to play the role of elections monitor. By all
appearances, this investigation is little more than a fishing expedition
meant to sow distrust and undermine public confidence in our elections.” 

Bonta has taken particular issue with the sworn statements that Bianco
has made to a Riverside County judge to obtain warrants allowing him to
seize the ballots. The sheriff got two warrants in February and another
last week after receiving a complaint about ballot discrepancies from a
Riverside County citizens’ group. Bonta has said the sheriff’s
department statements his office reviewed did not establish enough
probable cause to justify seizing election materials. 

None of the sworn statements or the evidence Bianco presented can be
judged by the public because the warrants are under seal in the
Riverside County Superior Court and redacted in Bonta’s court filings
over the issue. The warrants were approved by Judge Jay Kiel, a former
prosecutor who ran for the seat in 2022 with Bianco’s endorsement. 

The citizens’ group claimed Riverside County elections officials
overstated the number of ballots counted in the November special
election over Democrat-drawn congressional maps. Registrar of Voters Art
Tinoco has denied the group’s claims and told county supervisors last
month the group was using incomplete data that did not include
confidential, provisional and other ballots his office received. 

In a statement to CalMatters, Bianco criticized Bonta, a Democrat who
has been the state’s top law enforcement officer since 2021. 

“The questions should be directed only toward Bonta. Why would you
interfere and obstruct an investigation instead of assist? What are you
afraid of? Bonta is a corrupt political activist put in place by Gavin
Newsom to run cover for the corruption in Sacramento,” Bianco said. 

Voter fraud is rare in California and nationwide, studies have
consistently found. A database maintained by the Heritage Foundation, a
conservative organization that often highlights the issue, shows just 71
cases of voter fraud convictions in California over the past 32 years.
California counted more than 11.5 million ballots in the November
special election alone. 

Bianco last week said that his own yearslong probe of election systems
in Riverside County has “not found any mass fraud.” He said he had
uncovered “isolated incidents” that he’s referred to local prosecutors.
It was unclear if any have resulted in charges. 

Kim Nalder, a political science professor at Sacramento State
University, called Bianco’s seizure of the ballots “extremely
concerning, to see a local sheriff interceding in an area that is not
really supposed to be his jurisdiction.” In particular, she pointed out
that elections officials typically have rules over who can handle
ballots, but the seizure broke that “chain of custody.” 

“Any recount would have lots of safeguards for manipulation,” she said.
“There’s no guarantee of that at this point, even if the state succeeds
in stopping them from going forward.” 

https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/03/bonta-chad-bianco-ballots/