Grand Theft America / Receipt power-2026-02-26-132
Riverside County sheriff seizes 650,000 ballots from the county Registrar of Voters
On February 26, 2026, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco executed a search warrant on the county Registrar of Voters and seized more than 650,000 ballots — over 1,400 boxes of materials — from California's November 2025 Proposition 50 special election on congressional redistricting. Bianco, who is running for Governor of California, said at a press conference that the seizure was part of his office's criminal investigation into alleged discrepancies in the county's vote count. On April 8, 2026, the California Supreme Court ordered him to stop the investigation and to preserve everything seized pending its review.
What happened
Campaign Legal Center, filing in support of the voters who petitioned on March 25 for the ballots' return, states that the seizure violates California law requiring public officials to maintain chain of custody over election materials and reserving recounts and post-election audits to trained election officials. CalMatters reported it was the first time in the nation's history that a sheriff took possession of previously cast ballots. Attorney General Rob Bonta said the sheriff “willfully defied my direct orders, seized 650,000 ballots, misused criminal investigatory tools and created a constitutional emergency in the process.”
Why it matters
Ballots held by a law-enforcement officer rather than an election official is a chain-of-custody failure whatever the investigation finds. The precedent is the larger point: it establishes that an elected official with police powers can take physical control of a completed count.
Receipt details
- Phase 4
- Contest the result
- Interfere with ballots or the count
