Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seized approximately 650,000 ballots from the November 2025 special election on Proposition 50, launching a physical recount to probe allegations of vote discrepancies.

The action, which involved nearly 1,000 boxes of ballot materials taken under search warrants, stems from a complaint by the Riverside Election Integrity Team. The citizens group claimed a discrepancy of about 45,000 votes between handwritten intake logs and final tallies for Proposition 50, a measure that temporarily redrew California's congressional districts to counter Republican-led redistricting in states like Texas. The proposition passed statewide with 64% support and in Riverside County by 56%, a margin exceeding 80,000 votes.

Bianco, a leading Republican candidate for governor in the 2026 race, described the effort as a straightforward fact-finding mission. "This investigation is simple: Physically count the ballots and compare that result with the total votes recorded," he said at a news conference Friday. A Riverside County Superior Court judge appointed a special master to oversee the hand count, which Bianco's deputies, lacking formal election training, will conduct.

County Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco dismissed the citizens group's findings last month, explaining that the intake logs were rough estimates recorded by temporary workers after long shifts. He noted the actual variance between machine counts and final results was just 103 votes, or 0.016%. No formal recount request was filed, as the election outcome was not close.

State officials sharply criticized the seizure. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, in a March 4 letter, called it "unprecedented in both scope and scale" and questioned the warrants' probable cause, alleging omissions of material facts and a lack of evidence. Bonta's office accused Bianco of stonewalling requests for investigative files. Secretary of State Shirley Weber stated that deputies "are not election officials and do not have expertise in election administration."

Bianco pushed back, labeling Bonta "an embarrassment to law enforcement" and vowing to continue despite state pressure. "There is no acceptable error, small or large, in our elections," he added.

Election experts raised concerns about chain-of-custody risks, comparing the raid to past FBI actions in Georgia over unsubstantiated fraud claims. UCLA law professor Richard L. Hasen warned that handling ballots outside standard procedures could undermine confidence in results. Riverside officials maintain that secure storage protocols were followed.

The probe occurs amid California's top-two primary system for the gubernatorial race, where Bianco leads GOP polls. Critics, including Democratic candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, suggested political motivations, but Bianco denied any link to his campaign.

As the hand count proceeds under court supervision, it highlights ongoing tensions over election integrity in a state long dominated by Democrats. Results could either validate officials' assurances or fuel further scrutiny.