California sheriff ordered to return ballots he confiscated in voter ‘fraud’ inquiry

A Republican California sheriff must return more than a half-million ballots he seized for an investigation into unfounded voting improprieties in a special election last year, the state supreme court ruled Thursday.

Riverside county sheriff Chad Bianco in February seized approximately 650,000 ballots from a November 2025 special election on statewide congressional redistricting favorable to Democrats and pushed by Governor Gavin Newsom. The measure easily passed statewide, and won in Bianco’s county by roughly 80,000 votes.

The court called the ballots’ seizure “unlawful”, saying California law requires voted ballots to remain in the custody and control of election officials, even during a criminal investigation. Bianco must also “refrain from further handling of the ballots except as necessary to comply with our order”, the court said in an unanimous decision. Bianco did not immediately comment on the ruling.

“Today’s ruling affirms that in California we will defend democracy – using every branch of government,” Newsom said in a statement. “People deserve to know their ballot is counted and secure, and in California we will do everything we can to protect that constitutional right – this year, and beyond.”

Newsom on Saturday signed a bill that would prevent anyone from seizing ballots, as Bianco did.

“The new laws I signed just last week add new protections so attacks like this cannot happen again,” Newsom said on Thursday.

Bianco’s ballot investigation came as Donald Trump has repeatedly disputed the results of the 2020 election, citing unsubstantiated instances of fraud. His administration in January seized ballots and other documents from an election office in Georgia. Some Republicans have mirrored Trump’s rhetoric on voting in their states. Election officials and civil rights groups have been following the Bianco case carefully as they brace for the possibility that Trump or his allies may try to seize ballots in November.

Bianco said he confiscated the election materials as part of a criminal investigation after receiving a complaint from a local citizens group that the count was off. Local election officials had previously said the complaint was unfounded. Bianco, was running for governor at the time, but he did not make it through the primary.

Democratic attorney general Rob Bonta immediately launched a legal challenge, arguing Bianco had no authority over election materials and warning the seizure was designed to sow distrust in elections. He ordered Bianco to return the ballots, but Bianco did not.

The University of California, Los Angeles Voting Rights Project also sued the sheriff and the Riverside county registrar of voters on behalf of several Riverside county voters.