Sheriff's ballot seizure was 'unlawful,' California high court rules

Key Points:

• The California Supreme Court ruled that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco's seizure of hundreds of thousands of Proposition 50 ballots was unlawful and ordered him to immediately return all remaining materials, emphasizing that established legal mechanisms exist to investigate election misconduct without compromising ballot integrity.
• Bianco, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate aligned with MAGA election fraud claims, had seized the ballots based on discrepancies between a voluntary hand tally and the official vote count, but the court rejected his actions as unauthorized and illegal under California law.
• The court affirmed the authority of California Attorney General Rob Bonta to intervene and stop Bianco's unauthorized investigation and ballot handling, rejecting Bianco's claim that sheriffs are immune to oversight by higher-ranking officials.
• The ruling comes ahead of the November midterm elections, with advocates warning that similar interference could occur without clear judicial limits, and lawmakers have since passed new legislation to better protect ballots and empower election officials.
• The court also criticized Bianco's legal defense, which included reliance on AI-generated advice, and underscored the importance of conducting elections strictly according to law to maintain democratic integrity.