Riverside County Sheriff Moves Forward With Election Investigation Amid Clash With State Attorney General

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department is moving ahead with its investigation into alleged vote-count irregularities from the November 2025 special election—setting up a high-profile dispute with California’s attorney general.

Sheriff Chad Bianco announced during a recent press conference that his department has secured ballots and election materials and will proceed with its inquiry into what he describes as a “significant discrepancy” between ballots cast and ballots counted.

According to Bianco, investigators obtained the materials after serving search warrants to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters in February. The department now plans to conduct a hand count of ballots as part of its investigation.

The allegations stem from the Riverside Election Integrity Team, a local group that claims there were roughly 45,000 more ballots counted than cast in the 2025 special election. The group’s figures suggest more than 611,000 ballots were cast, while over 657,000 were counted.

County election officials have rejected those claims, stating the discrepancy is based on a misunderstanding of how ballots are processed and reported.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has repeatedly raised concerns about the investigation, requesting that it be halted on two separate occasions.

In letters sent between February and March, Bonta asked the sheriff’s department to provide affidavits supporting probable cause for the search warrants. He also questioned whether any specific felony violations had been identified.

In a statement, Bonta said he was “sad and disappointed” by Bianco’s handling of the situation, accusing the sheriff of delaying and refusing to cooperate with his office in good faith. He also cited concerns about what he described as legal deficiencies in the warrant affidavits, including omissions of key facts.

Bianco, however, defended his department’s actions and pushed back against the attorney general’s criticism during his press conference.

Despite the attorney general’s efforts to stop the investigation, a Riverside Superior Court judge has allowed it to proceed. The court has appointed a special master to oversee the handling of election materials and the ballot review process.

The sheriff’s department says it will conduct a full hand count of ballots to determine whether any discrepancy exists in the 2025 special election results. Officials have not provided a timeline for when the count will be completed.