Riverside Sheriff Bianco ordered to pause election fraud probe by CA Supreme Court

The California Supreme Court Wednesday ordered Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco to pause his investigation into alleged election fraud.

Bianco, who is running for California governor, seized more than half a million 2025 election ballots last month to investigate a complaint from a local citizens group about the ballot count from a November 2025 special election on redistricting. 

“To permit further consideration of this petition for review, real parties, their agents, employees, and anyone acting on their behalf are hereby ordered to pause the investigation into the November 2025 special election and preserve all seized items,” the court noted in the ruling.

Faced with mounting legal challenges from the state attorney general and a voting rights group, Bianco had already paused the investigation last week. Attorney General Rob Bonta and the UCLA Voting Rights Project launched legal challenges, arguing the sheriff has no authority over election materials.

Bonta celebrated the state Supreme Court’s decision, saying Bianco had “willfully defied” his orders about obtaining ballots.

“Today’s decision by the California Supreme Court reins in the destabilizing actions of a rogue Sheriff, prohibiting him from continuing this investigation while our litigation continues,” he said.

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.

Bianco, who has been one of the gubernatorial candidates who are leading in the poll, experienced a set-back this week when President Trump endorsed his competitor, former Fox News host Steve Hilton.