Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seized more than 650,000 ballots from California’s November 2025 special election on Friday, opening a physical recount after a third-party group found evidence of roughly 45,000 excess votes.
Bianco announced the investigation at a Friday press conference, framing it as straightforward. “This investigation is simple: Physically count the ballots and compare that result with the total votes recorded,” he said.
The ballots in question are from Proposition 50, a California redistricting measure designed to shift congressional lines in favor of Democrats. The Riverside Election Integrity Team says it identified about 45,000 votes that cannot be accounted for. State elections officials have dismissed those findings. Bianco says he isn’t waiting for their blessing.
California Secretary of State Shirley Weber responded by questioning Bianco’s authority to conduct the count. “The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office has taken actions based on allegations that lack credible evidence and risk undermining public confidence in our elections,” Weber told City News Service. “He and his deputies are not elections officials, and they do not have expertise in election administration.”
California Attorney General Bob Bonta has sent multiple letters to Bianco ordering him to shut down the investigation. Bianco said Friday he received those letters and kept going. He accused Bonta of trying to obstruct his probe. Bonta’s office says it was merely seeking information.
County elections official Art Tinoco had previously told supervisors the Election Integrity Team misread how votes are counted on Election Day. He said intake logs from polling workers are estimates, not exact tallies, and that the final certified count was within 0.16 percent, or 103 votes, of the original estimate. The Election Integrity Team disputes that explanation and says their math stands.
Bianco is also a leading Republican candidate for California governor. He and Democratic candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell have clashed publicly on social media over the investigation.
Bonta and Weber did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital.
