California Supreme Court Orders Sheriff To Return 650,000 Seized Redistricting Referendum Ballots

California's Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to hand back roughly 650,000 ballots he seized from last November's Proposition 50 special election, and to halt his criminal investigation into the vote. Proposition 50, approved on Nov. 4, 2025, authorized a Legislature-drawn congressional map favorable to Democrats for 2026 through 2030.

Bianco, a Republican who lost this year's gubernatorial primary, opened the probe after a local group, the Riverside Election Integrity Team, compared handwritten precinct intake logs with the certified count and alleged a gap of 45,896 votes. He obtained search warrants and seized the ballots in around 1,000 boxes. Riverside County Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco says the group misread the data and the actual gap was 103.

Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, writing for a unanimous court, called the seizure "unlawful." In Cervantes v. Bianco and a companion case, Bonta v. Bianco, the court held that state law requires ballots to remain in election officials' custody even during a criminal investigation, and that Bianco must obey Attorney General Rob Bonta's order to pause his probe.

As The Epoch Times notes further, the court ordered the sheriff to return the ballots "forthwith," handle them only as needed to comply with the court's order, take no further action on the November 2025 special election investigation pending Bonta's review, and provide materials Bonta requested in a March 6 letter. The court had stayed the investigation in April.

Bianco's attorney had told the court that as sheriff, Bianco had a legal duty to open an investigation after receiving a complaint, and that he adhered to the state penal code after the first search warrants were issued in February.

The court disagreed.

Guerrero said a search warrant does not supersede the state's election law.

"If election misconduct is suspected, the Elections Code provides several mechanisms for law enforcement to review and examine ballots without compromising their integrity," she said.

"But those procedures were not followed and the type of seizure that occurred here directly conflicts with the Elections Code's carefully considered and controlling provisions."

Chad Dunn, legal director of the UCLA Voting Rights Project, which brought one of the lawsuits challenging Bianco's actions, said after the rulings that the ballots are public property.

"They must be protected through the processes the Legislature has established. This ruling provides important clarity for election officials, law enforcement, and voters across California," he said.

Bonta Welcomes Rulings

Bonta hailed the court rulings, saying they "bring important clarity for our constitutional system in California," and that he was "grateful" the court affirmed his authority to supervise county sheriffs.

"Election fraud can and should be investigated. But misuse of criminal investigative tools - without any evidence that a crime was committed - needlessly undermines trust in our elections system and in law enforcement," he said in a statement.

Bianco said he will obey the rulings, but not "the message behind them."

Bianco said the rulings gave the attorney general "unchecked power over any investigation in the state of California."

The rulings fail to address the 45,896-ballot gap between the certified tally and the records obtained from the registrar, he said.

"The Registrar said it was a paperwork error. Bonta said stop looking. I got warrants from a judge and started looking anyway. That is my job," Bianco told The Epoch Times.

Days before the rulings, on Sept. 19, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, signed a bill that makes it a felony to seize ballots, election records, or certified voting technology before election results are officially certified.

Jill McLaughlin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.