650,000-plus ballots seized by Riverside County sheriff returned to registrar

Jeff Horseman, The Orange County Register on Sep 29, 2026

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RIVERSIDE, Calif. — More than 650,000 ballots, seized as part of a criminal probe that made national headlines, are back into the custody of the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, officials confirmed Tuesday afternoon.

The ballots and related materials, held by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department pending the outcome of a legal battle, were returned Tuesday morning, registrar’s spokesperson Elizabeth Florer said.

An inspection of the returned materials is continuing, Florer added.

California’s Supreme Court on Thursday ordered Sheriff Chad Bianco to return the ballots, which county voters cast during the November 2025 statewide special election that redrew the state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats as part of a nationwide fight over partisan redistricting.

In an unprecedented move, Bianco’s department obtained search warrants to seize the ballots from the registrar in spring. Sheriff’s investigators were looking into a citizen group’s allegation of a 45,000-vote gap between the number of ballots cast by voters last November and the number of ballots received by elections officials.

Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco said the 45,000 gap didn’t exist and was based on a misunderstanding of election data. The actual gap, he said, was just 103 votes — well within the margin of error set by the California secretary of state.

The ballots’ seizure sparked a showdown between Bianco, a one-time Republican candidate for governor, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat who said Bianco unlawfully refused his directive to pause the investigation and explain its underpinnings.

Bianco said he was obligated to investigate possible crimes in Riverside County and wanted to count all the ballots to see if the 45,000-vote gap existed and if so, what caused it.

Bonta sued and got the supreme court to pause the investigation pending further legal review. The UCLA Voting Rights Project also sued, arguing that Bianco had no right to take ballots from the registrar.

The supreme court unanimously ruled against Bianco, saying he illegally took the ballots and that Bonta had a constitutional right to order the sheriff to pause his investigation. Bianco decried the ruling in Bonta v. Bianco, saying it gives the attorney general unchecked power.

A law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in May makes it a felony to take ballots from county registrars.

Riverside County Supervisor Jose Medina — a Bianco critic — praised the ballots’ return.

“The unlawful seizure of ballots by armed officers was outside the Sheriff’s authority and should never have occurred,” Medina said in an emailed statement.

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