Riverside County Sheriff and California gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco has seized more than 650,000 ballots from last November’s election as part of an investigation into potential discrepancies in the county’s vote count.
The probe follows allegations from the Riverside Election Integrity Team that the county’s tally may have been inflated by more than 45,000 votes.
“This investigation is simple: Physically count the ballots and compare that result with the total votes recorded,” Bianco said at a Friday press conference.
He said the review will determine whether the results are accurate.
“There is no acceptable error, small or large, in our elections,” he said.
The investigation covers ballots tied to Proposition 50, which passed in Riverside County with 56 percent of the vote, a margin of more than 82,000 ballots.
Riverside County Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco said the alleged discrepancy stems from a misunderstanding of incomplete data.
He said the actual variance was 103 votes, or 0.016 percent.
I think Eric Swalwell read the story wrong. We were the ones investigating the 45,000 vote discrepancy.
Your Attorney General is the one trying to block it. https://t.co/KvuHSAmk5o
— Sheriff Chad Bianco (@ChadBianco) March 21, 2026
Bianco said the process is not a recount of the measure, but a full verification of the ballots.
“It is just as much to prove the election is accurate as it is to show otherwise — we will not know until the count is complete,” he said.
CALIFORNIA POLL – Governor (top two advance)
Steve Hilton: 17%
Katie Porter: 13%
Berkeley IGS (A) | 3/9-15 | 3,889… pic.twitter.com/4lYh4Vr6W9
— InteractivePolls (@IAPolls2022) March 18, 2026
The move has predictably upset Democrats, who fear what Bianco may find.
Among them is Attorney General Rob Bonta, who called the investigation “unprecedented in both scope and scale” and said it appears “not to be based on facts or evidence.”
Bonta also said his office had requested information about the probe.
“[The sheriff] has delayed, stonewalled, and otherwise refused to work with us in good faith,” Bonta said.
“Let me be clear: this is unacceptable,” Bonta wrote in a letter to Bianco earlier this month.
”Your decision to seize ballots and begin counting them based on vague, unsubstantiated allegations sets a dangerous precedent and will only sow distrust in our elections.”
Bianco responded by calling Bonta “an embarrassment to law enforcement.”
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber also complained about the probe, saying the sheriff’s deputies “are not elections officials and they do not have expertise in election administration.”
Bianco said a Riverside County Superior Court judge has ordered the appointment of a special master to oversee the ballot count.
The investigation comes as Bianco, a Republican candidate for governor, continues to gain traction in the race. A recent poll showed him among the leading candidates in the field.
PANIC ON THE LEFT: Two Republicans Surge to the Top in California Governor’s Race — Democrats Fear Jungle Primary Vote-Splitting Could Hand GOP a Stunning Victory
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