Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seizes 650K ballots in CA probe

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A California sheriff and prime Republican candidate for governor seized over 650,000 votes from the state's November elections this weekend.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco launched an investigation into the state's November 2025 special election on Proposition 50 after a third-party group, the Riverside Election Integrity Workforce, claimed it discovered roughly 45,000 extra votes. California elections officers have dismissed the group's findings, however Bianco says his workplace will conduct one other rely.

"This investigation is straightforward: Bodily rely the ballots and evaluate that end result with the whole votes recorded," Bianco advised reporters at a Friday press convention.

Proposition 50 was a key proposal looking for to reform California's congressional districts. It was designed to favor Democrats in response to an analogous effort by Republicans in Texas.

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Los Angeles, CA - January 06:Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a republican candidate for California governor, joins Kate Monroe, an advocate for veterans, on a tour of Skid Row in Los Angeles. ((Photograph by Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Every day Information through Getty Pictures)

Secretary of State Shirley Weber has argued Bianco has no authority to hold out a recount.

"The Riverside County Sheriff's Workplace has taken actions primarily based on allegations that lack credible proof and danger undermining public confidence in our elections," Weber advised Metropolis Information Service. "The sheriff's assertion that his deputies know how you can rely is admirable. The very fact stays that he and his deputies aren't elections officers, and they don't have experience in election administration."

Riverside elections official Artwork Tinoco rejected the Riverside Election Integrity Workforce's findings earlier this month, saying the group had misinterpreted how votes are counted on Election Day.

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a "Sure On Prop 50" volunteer occasion on the LA Conference Middle in Los Angeles, California. Voters authorized the measure, which licensed short-term modifications to congressional district maps. (Getty Pictures)

Tinoco advised county supervisors earlier this yr that the preliminary consumption logs by polling employees are supposed to be estimates relatively than actual tallies of what number of votes have been forged. Even so, he mentioned the final tally was inside 0.16%, or 103 votes, of the unique estimate.

The Elections Integrity Workforce maintains their math is appropriate, nevertheless, and it was this disagreement that led Bianco to open an investigation of his personal.

Bianco accused California Attorney General Bob Bonta , a Democrat, of intervening within the investigation. Bonta, nevertheless, says his workplace solely sought to study the premise of the probe.

Bianco has additionally clashed on social media with Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., who's operating for California governor as nicely.

California Lawyer Normal Rob Bonta has criticized Bianco's election investigation. (Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Occasions through Getty Pictures)

Bianco mentioned Friday that his workplace had obtained a number of letters from Bonta ordering him to stop the investigation, based on the Desert Solar.

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"The outrage that an investigation was occurring was extraordinarily regarding to me, particularly coming from somebody who claims to be a regulation enforcement officer that's, I’ve mentioned this a minimal of a thousand occasions, he’s a humiliation to regulation enforcement," Bianco mentioned.

Bonta and Weber didn't instantly reply to a request for remark from Fox Information Digital.

Anders Hagstrom is a reporter with Fox Information Digital masking nationwide politics and main breaking information occasions. Ship tricks to Anders.Hagstrom@Fox.com, or on X: @Hagstrom_Anders.