{"id":675811,"date":"2026-09-25T21:37:57","date_gmt":"2026-09-25T21:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=675811"},"modified":"2026-09-25T21:37:57","modified_gmt":"2026-09-25T21:37:57","slug":"california-supreme-court-orders-sheriff-to-return-650000-seized-redistricting-referendum-ballots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/?p=675811","title":{"rendered":"California Supreme Court Orders Sheriff To Return 650,000 Seized Redistricting Referendum Ballots"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Public Domain<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Please follow us on Gab<\/a>, Minds<\/a>, Telegram<\/a>, Rumble<\/a>, Truth Social<\/a>, GETTR<\/a>, X<\/a><\/p>\n

Posted Zero Hedge<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

California\u2019s Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to hand back roughly 650,000 ballots he seized from last November\u2019s Proposition 50 special election, and to halt his criminal investigation into the vote. Proposition 50, approved on Nov. 4, 2025, authorized a Legislature-drawn congressional map favorable to Democrats for 2026 through 2030.<\/p>\n

Bianco, a Republican who lost this year\u2019s gubernatorial primary, opened the probe after a local group, the Riverside Election Integrity Team, compared handwritten precinct intake logs with the certified count and alleged a gap of 45,896 votes. He obtained search warrants and seized the ballots in around 1,000 boxes. Riverside County Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco says the group misread the data and the actual gap was 103.<\/p>\n

Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, writing for a unanimous court, called the seizure \u201cunlawful.\u201d In Cervantes v. Bianco<\/em> and a companion case, Bonta v. Bianco<\/em>, the court held that state law requires ballots to remain in election officials\u2019 custody even during a criminal investigation, and that Bianco must obey Attorney General Rob Bonta\u2019s order to pause his probe.<\/p>\n

The court ordered the sheriff to return the ballots \u201cforthwith,\u201d handle them only as needed to comply with the court\u2019s order, take no further action on the November 2025 special election investigation pending Bonta\u2019s review, and provide materials Bonta requested in a March 6 letter. The court had stayed the investigation in April.<\/p>\n

Bianco\u2019s attorney had told the court that as sheriff, Bianco had a legal duty to open an investigation after receiving a complaint, and that he adhered to the state penal code after the first search warrants were issued in February.<\/p>\n

The court disagreed.<\/p>\n

Guerrero said a search warrant does not supersede the state\u2019s election law.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf election misconduct is suspected, the Elections Code provides several mechanisms for law enforcement to review and examine ballots without compromising their integrity,\u201d she said. \u201cBut those procedures were not followed and the type of seizure that occurred here directly conflicts with the Elections Code\u2019s carefully considered and controlling provisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chad Dunn, legal director of the UCLA Voting Rights Project, which brought one of the lawsuits challenging Bianco\u2019s actions, said the ballots are public property.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey must be protected through the processes the Legislature has established. This ruling provides important clarity for election officials, law enforcement, and voters across California,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bonta Welcomes Rulings<\/h2>\n

Bonta hailed the court rulings, saying they \u201cbring important clarity for our constitutional system in California,\u201d and that he was \u201cgrateful\u201d the court affirmed his authority to supervise county sheriffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cElection fraud can and should be investigated. But misuse of criminal investigative tools – without any evidence that a crime was committed – needlessly undermines trust in our elections system and in law enforcement,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bianco said he will obey the rulings, but not \u201cthe message behind them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Registrar said it was a paperwork error. Bonta said stop looking. I got warrants from a judge and started looking anyway. That is my job,\u201d Bianco told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n

Days before the rulings, on Sept. 19, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill that makes it a felony to seize ballots, election records, or certified voting technology before election results are officially certified.<\/p>\n

Jill McLaughlin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n

‘NO AD’ subscription for CDM! Sign up here and support real investigative journalism and help save the republic!<\/strong><\/a><\/h2>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Public Domain Please follow us on Gab, Minds, Telegram, Rumble, Truth Social, GETTR, X Posted Zero Hedge California\u2019s Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to hand back roughly 650,000 ballots he seized from last November\u2019s Proposition 50 special election, and to halt his criminal investigation into the vote. Proposition 50,… Continue reading California Supreme Court Orders Sheriff To Return 650,000 Seized Redistricting Referendum Ballots<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,22,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-675811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-border-security","category-immigration","category-immigration-reform","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=675811"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/675811\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=675811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=675811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buglecall.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=675811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}