Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco’s Ballot Seizure Warrant Raises Alarms Over Baseless Fraud Claims

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco took an unprecedented and highly controversial step by seizing 650,000 ballots from California’s 2025 election. But newly unsealed court documents show his investigators relied not on concrete evidence or expert analyses but on claims from a fringe activist group dismissed by election officials and experts alike.

The warrants, signed by Judge Jay Kiel — whom Bianco endorsed — were kept secret until a recent court order forced their release. They reveal that Bianco’s case rested on allegations from a citizens’ group that alleged a nearly 46,000-vote discrepancy. However, Riverside’s registrar of voters, Art Tinoco, publicly refuted these claims, calling them based on “flawed and incomplete data.”

Legal watchdogs and election experts are alarmed. Cristine Soto DeBerry, a former prosecutor, criticized the sheriff’s casual approach to seizing ballots, emphasizing that elections are “a sacred institution” that demands careful handling. Carl Luna, a civic engagement expert, dismissed the activist group as political “flat earthers” and questioned Bianco’s motives, calling the raid a “campaign stunt” unfit for a gubernatorial candidate.

Even as some, like former district attorney Paul Pfingst, argue the warrants met the legal threshold for probable cause, the broader context is damning. Attorney General Rob Bonta has challenged the investigation in court, calling it an attempt to undermine public confidence in elections and a misuse of criminal investigative powers for partisan purposes.

The California Supreme Court has since halted Bianco’s investigation, underscoring the legal and ethical concerns surrounding this politically charged ballot seizure. This episode fits a disturbing pattern of election denialism weaponizing law enforcement to sow doubt and disrupt democratic processes.

Sheriff Bianco’s raid on ballots, lacking credible evidence and expert support, is not just a procedural misstep — it’s a direct attack on the integrity of elections and a warning sign of how far some will go to undermine democracy for political gain.