California Supreme Court Orders Return of 650,000 Prop. 50 Ballots Unlawfully Seized by Riverside Sheriff

The California Supreme Court unanimously ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return about 650,000 ballots from California’s 2025 Proposition 50 election Thursday, ruling that his department violated state election law by removing the voted ballots from county election officials.

In a companion ruling involving the same election investigation, the justices also upheld California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s authority to issue binding directions to Bianco. The sheriff must stop further investigative activity while Bonta reviews the allegations and preserve remaining records gathered during the probe.

Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero wrote both opinions for a unanimous court. The decisions return the voted ballots to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters while leaving Bonta in control of the state’s review of Bianco’s investigation.

Bianco’s department seized the ballots on Feb. 26 after obtaining search warrants while investigating alleged discrepancies in Riverside County’s results from the November 2025 Proposition 50 special election. Deputies took 12 pallets containing roughly 1,000 boxes of ballots from the registrar and moved them to a secure facility accessible only to sheriff’s department employees.

Sheriff’s employees began hand-counting the ballots on March 5. The count stopped later that day after Bianco told Bonta’s office that his department would comply with the attorney general’s directive to pause the investigation. The ballots were returned to their boxes, resealed, and remained in the secured facility.

Bianco’s department later executed another warrant and seized 11 additional pallets of election materials.

Under Thursday’s ruling in Cervantes v. Bianco, every package containing voted ballots must be returned to the registrar “forthwith.” Bianco may handle them only as needed to comply with the order.

California election law requires voted ballots to remain in the physical custody of election officials, including when law enforcement seeks to examine them during a criminal investigation. Procedures exist for investigators to obtain access to ballots while leaving their custody with election officials.

Guerrero said allowing law enforcement to seize, handle, or count ballots outside those procedures creates “a substantial risk to election integrity.” The court found that the search warrants obtained by Bianco could not override the state’s ballot custody requirements.

The ruling supersedes the Riverside County search warrants wherever they conflict with the court’s order returning the ballots.

Bianco’s investigation began after the Riverside Election Integrity Team pointed to a roughly 45,900-vote difference between handwritten ballot intake estimates and Riverside County’s certified election total. County election officials said those handwritten figures were preliminary, excluded some ballots and were susceptible to counting errors. Using the registrar’s official counting method, officials identified a discrepancy of about 103 ballots.

The Supreme Court left those competing claims about the vote totals unresolved. Its decision addressed whether Bianco had legal authority to remove voted ballots from election officials and keep them in sheriff-controlled custody.

Riverside City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes and three other county voters brought the challenge seeking the ballots’ return. Bonta pursued a separate case after Bianco disputed the attorney general’s authority to direct his department’s handling of the investigation.

Bonta had instructed Bianco to preserve the seized materials, pause further investigative activity, and provide his office with records so the attorney general could review the factual and legal basis for the probe. The dispute raised a broader question about how much control California’s attorney general can exercise over an independently elected county sheriff.

In Bonta v. Bianco, the Supreme Court held that the California Constitution and state law give the attorney general supervisory authority over county sheriffs and allow the office to issue binding directions concerning criminal investigations.

The justices ordered Bianco to comply with the directives Bonta has already issued. Records and election materials still held by the sheriff must be preserved while the attorney general conducts his review. The approximately 650,000 voted ballots are subject to the separate Cervantes order and must go back to the registrar.

The two decisions leave any further review of the underlying election allegations under Bonta’s supervision while restoring the ballots to the custody required by California election law.

Thursday’s rulings also come after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation this month strengthening protections for ballots and other election materials following the Riverside County seizure. The Supreme Court said the newer law did not alter its conclusion that Bianco’s removal of the voted ballots violated the law already in effect when his department executed the warrants.