Riverside Sheriff Bianco’s Ballot Raid Warrant Details Finally Out — And They’re Thin on Evidence

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s controversial seizure of hundreds of thousands of ballots from the 2025 California election rested on alarmingly weak evidence, newly unsealed court documents reveal. Despite no insider witnesses, no forensic analyses, and no credible tipsters, Bianco convinced a local judge—whom he had endorsed—to sign search warrants authorizing the unprecedented ballot raid.

The warrants leaned heavily on claims from a partisan activist group that independent elections experts have compared to “flat earthers” for their refusal to engage with facts. Riverside’s top elections official, Art Tinoco, publicly debunked the group’s allegations of a nearly 46,000-ballot discrepancy, calling their data flawed and incomplete. Yet Judge Jay Kiel, who remains silent due to court rules, approved the warrants that allowed Bianco to seize 650,000 ballots amid his own gubernatorial campaign.

Experts reviewing the affidavits expressed deep concern about the ease with which law enforcement powers were wielded against a sacred democratic process. Cristine Soto DeBerry, a former prosecutor and criminal justice reform advocate, described the raid as “casual” and lacking the care expected for election matters. Carl Luna, a civic engagement expert, called the activist group’s claims “baseless” and accused Bianco of using the investigation as a political stunt that undermines his fitness to lead.

Conversely, Paul Pfingst, a former district attorney, argued that the affidavits met the legal standard for probable cause, citing unanswered questions from election officials as justification. Still, the county registrar of voters had repeatedly explained the data and rejected the fraud claims before the warrants were issued.

The timing is critical: On the same day the warrants were unsealed, the California Supreme Court halted Bianco’s investigation in response to lawsuits from Attorney General Rob Bonta and the UCLA Voting Rights Project. Bonta condemned the raid as an attempt to sow distrust in elections without proper evidence, emphasizing that criminal search warrants require solid probable cause—a bar Bianco’s affidavits failed to clear.

Bianco dismissed critics and independent experts, blaming the media and state officials for politicizing his “fact-finding mission.” But his actions fit a disturbing pattern of weaponizing law enforcement powers to cast doubt on election integrity without credible proof.

This case raises urgent questions about the abuse of judicial oversight to legitimize partisan attacks on democracy. As California and the nation grapple with rising election denialism, the Bianco ballot raid stands as a stark warning: When law enforcement becomes a tool for political theater, democracy itself is at risk.