California Supreme Court freezes GOP sheriff’s investigation of 650,000 seized ballots

The California Supreme Court has ordered a county sheriff to pause his investigation into 650,000 seized ballots while it considers the state attorney general’s petition demanding a permanent end to his probe.

Meanwhile, in a separate case, a judge granted a request from a coalition of media organizations to unseal the search warrants used to obtain the ballots.

Taken together, the two rulings will freeze the unprecedented anti-voting action and open it up to greater public scrutiny.  

In February, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a leading Republican candidate for governor, seized the ballots based on reports of a large difference between votes cast and votes counted. He soon announced that he would conduct a recount. County election officials have attributed that apparent ballot discrepancy to a volunteer group’s misunderstanding of the vote counting process.

After Bianco announced his seizure last month, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) filed suit. His office blasted Bianco’s “amateur and dubious ‘recount’” and called his seizure of all the ballots cast in the redistricting election “unprecedented in state history.”

The sheriff conceded last week that his investigation was on hold pending litigation, and the California Supreme Court’s order reinforces that.

“Today’s decision is a victory for democracy and the rule of law,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) wrote on social media Wednesday. “This rogue sheriff chased conspiracy theories, tried to undermine our elections, and got the ruling he deserved. Trump and MAGA’s election denialism is a cancer, a danger to our democracy, and it must be stopped.”

However, the order was neither a decision nor a ruling as it did not address the merits of the case.

Bianco’s ballot seizure is just the latest conspiracy theory-fueled attack on free and fair elections. 

In recent weeks, the FBI has raided an election hub to seize ballots in Fulton County, Georgia, and subpoenaed records from Maricopa County, Arizona. In both cases, the agency is focused on the 2020 presidential race at the behest of President Donald Trump, who is attempting to relitigate his loss to former President Joe Biden.  

As in the challenge to the Fulton County raid, Bonta’s office has argued that the warrants Bianco used to seize the ballots lacked probable cause. Those warrants — signed by Riverside County Superior Court Judge Jay Kiel, a political ally of Bianco’s — have been sealed until now. 

However, on Tuesday, Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gail O’Rane granted a motion ordering the court to unseal the warrants after a coalition of media organizations requested that they be made public. 

Four Riverside County voters represented by the UCLA Voting Rights Project have filed their own lawsuit asking the California Supreme Court to order the return of the ballots and accusing Bianco of violating state election law. 

California law prohibits ballots from being taken from the custody of election officials, even during a criminal investigation, the filing argued.