California Supreme Court Halts GOP Sheriff's Rogue Ballot Seizure After He Grabbed 1,400 Boxes on Bogus Fraud Claims

The California Supreme Court stepped in Wednesday to stop a Republican sheriff who seized more than 1,400 boxes of election materials — over half a million ballots — in what state officials are calling an illegal investigation into nonexistent voter fraud.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Trump-aligned Republican now running for governor, must immediately halt his probe and preserve all seized election materials, the court ordered. The ruling came after California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued to block what he characterized as a destabilizing power grab by a sheriff with no legal authority over election administration.

"What the Sheriff says and what he does are often two different things," Bonta said in a statement following the court's decision. "Today's decision by the California Supreme Court reins in the destabilizing actions of a rogue Sheriff, prohibiting him from continuing this investigation while our litigation continues."

Double Seizure After State Ordered Him to Stop

The dispute began when Bianco launched an investigation into a complaint from a local citizens group about ballot counting in a November 2024 special election on redistricting. Local election officials told the county Board of Supervisors the complaint was baseless. Bianco seized 1,000 boxes of election materials anyway.

Then, after Bonta ordered him to stop, Bianco seized another 426 boxes.

The sheriff defended his actions by noting a county judge approved the investigation. But voting rights advocates and state officials argue sheriffs have no jurisdiction over election materials — that authority rests with county registrars and the Secretary of State's office.

Bianco claimed last week he had paused the investigation due to mounting legal challenges, but Bonta's statement suggests the attorney general does not trust the sheriff to follow through without a court order.

Part of a Broader Pattern of Election Interference

The California ballot seizure is part of a growing trend of Republican officials using law enforcement powers to investigate debunked election fraud claims in the wake of Trump's repeated lies about the 2020 election.

Trump's administration recently seized ballots and documents from an election office in Georgia. Republican officials in multiple states have launched similar probes, often citing vague allegations of fraud that election officials have already investigated and dismissed.

Bianco's dual role as sheriff and gubernatorial candidate raises additional concerns about the political motivations behind the investigation. He is one of two prominent Republicans running for governor in California, a heavily Democratic state where Trump's election denialism has found little traction among voters but remains popular with the GOP base.

Voting Rights Group Also Challenges Seizure

In addition to the attorney general's lawsuit, a voting rights organization is challenging the ballot seizure in court. The group argues that allowing sheriffs to seize election materials based on unsubstantiated complaints sets a dangerous precedent that could be weaponized to intimidate election workers and undermine public confidence in vote counting.

The Supreme Court's order to preserve all seized materials is critical to ensuring the integrity of the evidence chain if the case proceeds. Election security experts have warned that allowing law enforcement to remove ballots from secure custody creates opportunities for tampering or allegations of tampering, further eroding trust in election results.

The court did not set a timeline for when it will rule on the underlying legal question of whether Bianco had authority to seize the ballots in the first place. Until then, the sheriff must keep his hands off the investigation — and off any more ballot boxes.