California Supreme Court hears arguments over sheriff’s seizure of ballots

The California Supreme Court is currently deliberating whether Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco must return approximately 650,000 election ballots seized from a November 2025 special redistricting election. The ballots were taken in March after Bianco, who was running for governor at the time, received a complaint from a citizens group alleging inaccuracies in the vote count, though this claim was deemed unfounded by election officials.

Bianco initiated a recount of the ballots under the supervision of a special master appointed by the court, but suspended it days later due to mounting legal challenges. Despite the state attorney general's and a voting rights group's warnings that Bianco lacked authority over the election materials, he persisted in handling the ballots himself.

The state Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Monday regarding whether Bianco should be compelled to return the ballots, which were involved in an election that narrowly passed by around 80,000 votes.