Court denies appeal to stop Riverside County Sheriff's election probe
A California sheriff running for governor has seized more than half a million ballots cast in a November special election from county election officials, saying he's investigating a ballot count discrepancy.
Updated on: March 25, 2026 / 12:44 AM EDT / CBS LA
A California court denied the state attorney general's appeal to halt the Riverside County Sheriff's election fraud investigation on Tuesday.
In a statement, California Attorney General Rob Bonta's office said the appellate court denied their request "based solely on where we filed the case and is not a ruling on the underlying of the petition."
"The facts have not changed. The Riverside County Sheriff continues to directly defy the Attorney General's instructions, in violation of the California Constitution and state law," Bonta's office wrote. "We are evaluating next steps to ensure a swift and appropriate resolution to this matter."
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is running for governor, seized more than 611,000 ballots from the Prop 50 special election in which voters approved a redistricting measure that shifted five of California's Republican U.S. House seats to be more favorable to Democrats in the midterm elections this year.
Prop 50 passed in Riverside County with more than 56% of the vote, according to The Associated Press. The ballots in favor of the new congressional maps surpassed those against by about 82,570 votes, according to AP.