Chad Bianco, the Republican sheriff of Riverside County and a candidate for governor, has escalated his conflict with California state officials by confiscating additional ballot materials from a special election. On Tuesday, Bianco ordered his office to seize 426 boxes of ballot materials, adding to the 650,000 ballots he previously seized last year as part of a criminal investigation into alleged voter fraud.
The ballot seizures have sparked multiple lawsuits, including one filed with the California Supreme Court by voters represented by the UCLA Voting Rights Project. The lawsuit seeks to block Bianco's recount of last year's vote on Proposition 50, a measure to redraw congressional districts that was passed overwhelmingly by voters in November. State officials have rejected Bianco's claims of widespread fraud, noting that the actual discrepancy between official results and hand counts was only 103 votes, not the 45,896 claimed by a local group.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a separate lawsuit against Bianco on Monday, accusing him of initiating a 'sweeping and unprecedented criminal investigation' based on insufficient evidence. Bonta's lawsuit states that Bianco 'willfully violated the attorney general’s directives' by continuing the investigation after being instructed to pause. Bonta described the ballot seizures as 'unprecedented in state history'.
Secretary of State Shirley Weber also condemned Bianco's actions, stating that they 'risk undermining public confidence in our elections'. She added that the sheriff and his deputies are not election officials and lack expertise in election administration. On Tuesday, a three-judge panel denied Bonta's bid to stop the recount, ruling that the attorney general should apply with a lower court.
Bianco has previously promoted anti-voting rhetoric online, according to an investigation by Democracy Docket. Comments attributed to him include statements that 'some people should never be allowed to vote' and that Democrats 'have created an environment where cheating and illegal voting is keeping them in office'.
