California Supreme Court Rules Against Sheriff in Ballot Seizure Case

The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco's seizure of over 650,000 ballots during a criminal investigation was unlawful. The court found the sheriff violated state law by removing ballots from the registrar’s custody.

The court also affirmed that California Attorney General Rob Bonta acted within his constitutional authority by ordering Bianco to halt the investigation and comply with his directives. The justices unanimously upheld Bonta’s authority over sheriffs in the case.

In the Cervantes v. Bianco case, the court emphasized that allowing law enforcement unfettered access to ballots creates a significant risk to election integrity. The ruling stated that the sheriff’s actions involved the unlawful removal and handling of over 1,000 boxes of documents, including the most critical documents in a democracy: voters’ ballots.

The court ordered Bianco to return the ballots to the county elections office. As of Wednesday afternoon, the ballots remained in the sheriff’s custody. The court’s decision concluded a legal dispute that began with a complaint from a citizen’s watchdog group alleging a 45,000-vote gap in a special election.

Bianco, who called the ruling a ‘wrong decision,’ argued his investigation was a criminal probe into potential election fraud, not an attempt to overturn an election. He claimed the court ignored the facts of the case and gave the attorney general unchecked power to stop investigations.

Governor Gavin Newsom praised the court’s decision, stating it affirmed California’s commitment to protecting democratic processes. Riverside Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes, a plaintiff in the case, said the ruling upheld the rule of law and protected voters’ constitutional rights.