California Supreme Court orders Riverside County sheriff to return seized ballots
publishers 7articles 7first reported 24 Sep, 17:20 UTCdeveloping since 24 Sep · 6 editionstop 25 #20
The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco unlawfully seized approximately 650,000 ballots and ordered him to return them to county election officials.
Bianco, a Republican and former candidate for governor, took the ballots in February as part of an investigation into alleged voting improprieties in a November 2025 special election. The election involved a statewide congressional redistricting measure backed by Gov. Gavin Newsom and favorable to Democrats. The measure passed easily statewide.
The court cited California law stating that voted ballots may not be removed from the custody of election officials. It also directed Bianco to refrain from further handling the ballots.
The Guardian described the suspected improprieties behind the investigation as unfounded.
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