Secret warrants obtained by the Riverside County Sheriff's Department to seize more than 650,000 ballots in a controversial investigation into alleged election fraud will soon be revealed.
Riverside County Superior Court Judge Gail O'Rane on Tuesday ordered the warrants unsealed after several media organizations, including The Times, sued to review the documents. The warrants have been released, but they are expected to provide the first glimpse into disputed court documents related to allegations of fraud — allegations that election officials say are unfounded.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is in charge of the investigation, agreed that the warrants should be expunged, according to the judge's order. Riverside officials previously wanted to keep the documents private, citing an active investigation in response to records requests.
Three search warrants, requested by the Sheriff's Department and signed by a district judge, allowed deputies to seize about 1,400 ballot boxes in February and March. There is no exact count of the number of votes taken, however the 1,000 boxes are estimated to contain over 650,000 votes.
The investigation and vote-taking drew widespread criticism and numerous legal challenges, including from California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta.
Bonta said his office reviewed the warrants after they were issued, and found that there were “mistakes” that allowed the investigation and implementation of the warrants to be suspended, according to court documents. Bonta said “the affidavits did not reveal any crime that the sheriff had reason to believe had been committed or that someone had committed a crime.”
However, Bianco did not comply with the request of the attorney general and continued to confiscate votes.
But as legal challenges mounted, Bianco recently announced that he had suspended the investigation pending a legal review. Bianco, a staunch supporter of President Trump, is a Republican running for governor, although this week Trump endorsed another GOP candidate, conservative commentator Steve Hilton.
On Wednesday, the California Supreme Court granted Bonta's request to stop the investigation and ordered all parties to “stop the investigation for the November 2025 special election and retain all seized materials.” The court also agreed to hear a review of the case in the coming weeks.
Bonta asserted that the court order was important because “what the sheriff says and what he does are usually two different things.”
“Today's decision by the California Supreme Court has taken an action that undermines the corrupt official, preventing him from continuing this investigation while our case is pending,” Bonta said in a prepared statement. He called the decision “a necessary and appropriate response to what is clearly an unprecedented situation.”
The attorney general argued that the judge illegally rejected his office's instructions and proceeded with a case that “will only sow distrust in our elections.”
Bianco, in a video posted on social media on Wednesday, said he was “very happy” with the decision of the Supreme Court, although he admitted that it means that the investigation is still in its current state…
The head of the court said “he is very sure that they will allow us to continue this investigation even though the attorney general tried to hide it … We will make sure that this investigation, like any investigation, is completed, and not swept under the rug.”
Bonta's office had filed for Supreme Court review after its appeal to the California 4th Circuit Court of Appeals was denied last month, prompting the attorney general to file new motions in Riverside County Superior Court and the state supreme court. Both are ongoing.
The UCLA Voting Rights Project also filed a complaint with the California Supreme Court arguing that all ballots must remain in the custody of the county registrar of voters under state law.
The votes in question are from the November election on Proposition 50, which has redrawn state districts in favor of Democrats in response to the redistricting of Republican states, including Texas. After conducting its own research into the election, a group of local residents said the district's tally was inflated by more than 45,000 votes. Bianco said he wanted to “determine the merits” of that claim.
But voter fraud remains rare across the US, and Riverside County Voter Registration officials have strongly denied any claims of voter fraud. In a lengthy, public presentation, Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco explained that the party's allegations were incorrect, based on a misdirection of raw data that had not been fully analyzed.
The real difference, Tinoco said, was 103 votes – a difference of 0.016%.
California law requires county officials to keep election materials sealed for 22 months in elections involving public office and six months in all other contests.
The Proposition 50 election takes place on November 4th, so the ballots are scheduled to be destroyed in May.
