The reversal comes after AG Rob Bonta and the UCLA Voting Rights Project launched legal challenges last week, arguing the sheriff has no authority over election materials.
FILE – Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco speaks at a news conference in Lake Elsinore, Calif., Feb. 7, 2023, as officials announced that the closure of poppy fields at Walker Canyon until the wildflower bloom subsides.
Republican gubernatorial candidates in the state, said in a statement Saturday that his office put the investigation on hold “because of the politically motivated lawsuits and court filings.”The reversal comes after Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta and the UCLA Voting Rights Project launched legal challenges last week, arguing the sheriff has no authority over election materials. Bianco previously said that the investigation — and the seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November election — was legal and approved by a Riverside County judge. He doubled down last week by taking more ballots from a county election office after receiving orders from Bonta’s office to stop.Uber bets on three competing candidates for California governorBonta’s office said Monday it will continue with its petitions in the California Supreme Court and the superior court.The UCLA Voting Rights Project, in a petition filed Monday on behalf of several Riverside County voters, is also asking the state Supreme Court to order Bianco to return the ballots while the case plays out. “Our election law is clear that voted ballots are to remain in the custody of election officials, and nothing the sheriff has presented changes that basic rule,” Sonni Waknin, an attorney with the group, said in a statement. The dispute started in February and escalated this month when Bianco seized 1,000 boxes of election materials to investigate a complaint from a local citizens group about the ballot count from a November 2025 special election on redistricting. Local election officials told the county Board of Supervisors last month that the complaint was unfounded. After Bonta ordered Bianco to halt his probe, the sheriff seized another 426 boxes of ballots last week. The ballot investigation came as President Donald Trump has repeatedly disputed the results of the 2020 election, citing unsubstantiated instances of fraud. His administration recently seized ballots and other documents from an election office in Georgia. Some Republicans have mirrored Trump’s rhetoric on voting in their states.This Sacramento suburb is booming. Here's what you don't want to missNo Kings may have broken national record, but Bay Area numbers appear to lag from earlier protests Swalwell accuses President Donald Trump, Kash Patel of trying to influence California governor's raceDUI arrest for teen in fatal San Jose collisionAsking Eric: I think I know why her boyfriend hasn't proposed
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