Sheriff Bianco’s Ballot Probe Stalls After Riverside Press Conference and Legal Pressure

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s controversial election fraud probe has been put on hold after mounting lawsuits, court filings and escalating political pressure, turning what began as a ballot investigation into a broader fight over election authority, public trust and the use of county resources.

The setback came March 30, when Bianco said the investigation was “on hold” because of what he called “politically motivated lawsuits and court filings.” By April 1, the pressure had widened further as media organizations moved to unseal the warrants and sworn statements used to justify the seizure of more than 1,400 boxes of Proposition 50 election materials, while legal challenges from California Attorney General Rob Bonta and the UCLA Voting Rights Project continued seeking the ballots’ return.

The pause came just days after a March 27 community press conference outside the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, where IE United and the California Working Families Party gathered elected officials and residents to condemn Bianco’s actions and call for the ballots to be returned. About five dozen community members and more than a dozen members of the media attended.

The controversy deepened the very next day. After speaking at the Patriot Summit at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Ontario on March 28, Bianco told Inland Empire Community News that protesters opposing him were “paid” and “brainwashed.” He ended the four-minute interview after a follow-up question about the alleged payments.

At the March 27 press conference, Riverside County Supervisor Jose Medina argued that Bianco’s March 20 election press conference looked less like a neutral law enforcement update and more like a campaign event tied to his gubernatorial ambitions.

“Last Friday, a week ago, the Chad Bianco for Governor campaign rolled into Riverside,” Medina said. He said the event was promoted on the sheriff’s official website as an election fraud press conference, then added, “There is no fraud. There is no election fraud.”

Medina also said he filed complaints with the county’s Fraud, Waste and Abuse Committee and the district attorney, asking for an investigation into whether public resources were used to support political activity.

“The only fraud I see is a candidate for governor of the state of California using Riverside County resources and personnel to advance his own political agenda,” Medina said. “The Riverside County Board of Supervisors should not turn a blind eye while Sheriff Chad Bianco misuses valuable county resources for his own political gain.”

Also at the press conference, Riverside City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes said she, Indio Councilmember Oscar Ortiz and concerned residents had filed a petition with the California Supreme Court asking that ballots from the 2025 special election be returned to the legal custody of the Riverside County Registrar of Voters.

“Transparency in elections is a cornerstone of our democracy,” Cervantes said. “Riverside County has a proven track record of accurately tabulating ballots and has been transparent during the counting and tabulation of ballots during the 2025 special election. Sheriff Bianco’s investigation is anything but.”

Ortiz echoed that argument, saying the issue was not whether election concerns can be reviewed, but whether they are handled lawfully and in public view.

“There are legal ways to handle resident concerns over election processes and election fraud investigations,” Ortiz said, “but those legal pathways do not include elected officials seizing ballots and counting them in private.” He said he hoped the court action would help set a precedent that anyone investigating election fraud “must follow the legal process” to ensure a fair and accurate vote count.

The dispute stems from Bianco’s claim that the Riverside Election Integrity Team, a citizen volunteer group reviewing public records, found a discrepancy between handwritten intake logs and the vote totals certified to the secretary of state. Bianco said the purpose of the investigation was simple: “Physically count the ballots and compare that result with the total votes reported.”

Bianco has also rejected claims that the investigation is tied to politics, saying, “I have a duty to make sure we investigate crime in Riverside County, or alleged crime in Riverside County,” and insisting the matter “has absolutely nothing to do” with his run for governor.

But election officials and state leaders have disputed the basis for the sheriff’s actions. Riverside County Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco said the citizen group’s claim was based on a misunderstanding of raw data that had not been fully processed and said the actual variance was 103 votes, not more than 45,000. Bonta called the ballot seizure unprecedented and said it appeared unsupported by facts or evidence, while also warning that it could undermine public confidence in elections.

Now, less than a week after local elected officials and community members publicly challenged the probe in Riverside, and just days after Bianco defended himself to IECN in Ontario, the ballot count he championed is no longer moving forward, at least for now. What remains is a widening legal and political battle over whether a sheriff running for governor had the authority to seize ballots in the first place — and whether Riverside County’s election system is being drawn into a fight far bigger than the vote count itself.