Riverside County Sheriff Seizes 500,000 Ballots Over Vote Discrepancy

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seized more than 500,000 ballots and nearly 1,000 boxes of election materials from county officials in February. Bianco described the action as a "fact-finding mission" intended to investigate a reported discrepancy of approximately 45,800 votes from a November 2025 special election on redistricting. The measure, which favored Democrats, passed in the county by more than 80,000 votes.

County election officials disputed the scale of the error, asserting that the difference between machine and final counts was only about 100 votes. They attributed the remaining log errors to the performance of temporary workers.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta condemned the seizure, calling the move "unacceptable." Bianco subsequently announced that the recount process will move forward under the supervision of a court-appointed special master.