California Supreme Court halts sheriff’s election fraud probe and ballot review

California’s highest court ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to pause an election-fraud investigation after he seized ballot materials tied to a November 2025 special election, according to the order reported by The Associated Press.

The court’s Wednesday directive came while the judges review the legal challenge to the sheriff’s authority to investigate and handle election materials, the report said. The order required Bianco and his office “to pause the investigation into the November 2025 special election and preserve all seized items,” AP reported.

AP said the legal dispute began earlier this year and escalated last month when Bianco seized 1,000 boxes of election materials. The seizures were linked to a complaint from a local citizens group about the ballot count from the November 2025 special election involving redistricting, the report said. Local election officials had told the county Board of Supervisors that the complaint was unfounded, AP reported.

After Attorney General Rob Bonta intervened, AP said the scope of Bianco’s handling of the materials became the subject of litigation. Bonta asked the California Supreme Court to step in, arguing that the sheriff did not have authority over election materials, according to the report.

AP said Bonta ordered Bianco to halt his probe before the sheriff seized additional ballot materials. After Bonta’s order to stop the investigation, AP reported that Bianco seized another 426 boxes of ballots.

In a statement cited by AP, Bonta said the Supreme Court’s decision was necessary to stop the investigation. “What the Sheriff says and what he does are often two different things,” Bonta said in the statement. He added that the court decision “reins in the destabilizing actions of a rogue Sheriff,” according to AP.

Bianco’s office did not immediately respond to AP’s request for comment, the report said. The AP report also noted that Bianco has previously argued his investigation was approved by a county judge and said he paused the probe last week because of mounting legal challenges.

The sheriff’s ballot investigation unfolded against a wider backdrop of election-related disputes in U.S. politics. AP reported that President Donald Trump has repeatedly disputed the results of the 2020 election, citing fraud allegations that have not been substantiated, and that his administration seized ballots and other documents from an election office in Georgia.

Some Republicans in state contests have echoed Trump’s voting rhetoric, AP reported. The California Supreme Court’s order, however, focused on the legal question of whether a county sheriff can continue investigating by holding and reviewing seized election materials while the court reviews the challenge.