The sheriff of Riverside holds the most votes, defying California officials
Riverside County’s sheriff, a leading Republican gubernatorial nominee, this week withheld more votes from last November’s election, part of a growing battle to check unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud — much to the dismay of state law enforcement officials and election integrity watchdogs.
According to new court documents, Sheriff Chad Bianco seized 426 additional boxes of voting materials from county election officials on Tuesday, expanding the trove of election materials the sheriff plans to review in what he called a “fact-finding mission” to determine whether ballots were counted fraudulently. Last month, his department confiscated more than 650,000 votes in Riverside County in November’s Proposition 50 election, which temporarily flipped the state’s counties in favor of Democrats.
The move puts Bianco at odds with California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, who called on the sheriff to stop the investigation, citing legal and ethical concerns, including how the investigation “sets a dangerous precedent and will only sow distrust in our elections.”
In a new lawsuit related to the case, Bonta said that the situation “requires immediate intervention” because Bianco violated the orders of his office – the highest law enforcement agency – and continued an investigation that has not properly identified “any crime that may have been committed.”
Without a court order halting the investigation, “the sheriff’s flawed investigation threatens to sow distrust and jeopardize public trust in the upcoming primary and national elections, not only in Riverside County but across the state,” the lawsuit said.
A new filing by the attorney general asked for an immediate ruling from the Riverside County Superior Court to “stop [sheriff’s] negligence, continued violation of the Attorney General’s orders, and obstruction [the sheriff] in continuing to interfere with election matters.”
In a statement Friday, Bianco defended his investigation and questioned the attorney general’s motives.
“The investigation is just to find out the truth of the allegations of electoral fraud,” said Bianco. “The attorney general’s office has taken drastic measures, at taxpayer expense, to prevent an official investigation. The question that should be asked is why would anyone not want an investigation.”
Bianco previously said his department obtained warrants to be “authorized and signed by a judge” to seize election materials. The warrants remain under seal, although the attorney general said he has reviewed them.
Critics and election watchers are also still shocked by his action, saying that this is part of a big campaign by some with the right to destroy trust in the electoral process.
On Thursday, UCLA’s Voting Rights Project filed another petition asking the California Supreme Court to require Bianco to return all ballots taken from the county registrar’s office. The petition, filed on behalf of Riverside County voters, says all ballots must be kept in the custody of the county registrar of voters under state law.
“Our election laws are clear: voters’ votes are sacred and must be protected from tampering. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco must enforce the law, not break it,” former California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra, who is also running for governor and is senior voting rights advisor for UCLA’s Voting Rights Project, in a statement. “His imprudent arrest … and his attempt to oversee a recount not only violate California election law but are also unsubstantiated. Law enforcement officials are prohibited by law from interfering with vote counts, in California and across the country.”
Bonta’s office echoed those concerns earlier this week in a letter to the appeals court, expressing concern that the mail-in ballots taken by Bianco “contain confidential information, particularly voter signatures, and are strictly protected from disclosure under California law.”
The votes in question stem from the November election on Proposition 50, which redistricted states in favor of Democrats in response to redistricting in Republican states, including Texas.
Bianco, a staunch Trump supporter, said his investigators looked into the allegations by a citizens’ group that “did their own research” and found that the district’s tally was falsely inflated by more than 45,000 votes — a claim local election officials have dismissed. He said it is his constitutional duty to investigate a possible case and he is not trying to change the results of the election.
Times staff writer Hailey Branson-Potts contributed to this report.
