Recently released documents reveal that a California sheriff’s controversial move to seize ballots and other materials from the 2025 special election was prompted by a conservative election monitoring group.
The criminal investigation of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco in last year’s election rocked California politics and set off a high-stakes battle with state Attorney General Rob Bonta, who charged that Bianco’s office failed to meet legal standards when it sought a warrant allowing law enforcement officials to seize ballots and related election materials.
The California Supreme Court halted the Republican sheriff’s investigation Wednesday, agreeing to hear Bonta’s appeal. In a statement, Bonta accused the sheriff, the GOP candidate for governor, of “willfully disobeying my direct orders, seizing 650,000 ballots, abusing criminal investigative tools, and creating a constitutional emergency in the process”, and called Bianco “a rogue sheriff.”
Affidavits released to Politico and other news organizations show that the investigation began in February when a local activist from a group called the Riverside County Election Integrity Team contacted the Sheriff’s Office and alleged changes in how Riverside County officials counted ballots in the 2025 vote on Proposition 50, a statewide gerrymandering ballot initiative.
An investigator said in an affidavit that he was “in regular contact” with Greg Langworthy, a member of the Riverside County Election Integrity Team who reached out to the Riverside sergeant who pursued previous election fraud allegations. Langworthy said the group’s estimate of ballots cast in the 2025 election differs from the official count by thousands of ballots.
“Langworthy stated that there were similar discrepancies in the previous four elections that were not explained by the (voter registrar),” the affidavit states. “In order to prove or disprove any criminal conduct, I am requesting to seize/review the ballots from the 2025 special election.”
A representative for the Registrar of Voters referred a request for comment to Bianco’s office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Langworthy made a similar argument at a Board of Supervisors meeting in February — and days after Langworthy reached out to the Sheriff’s Office, according to the affidavit — Riverside County Registrar Art Tinoco said","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.pressenterprise.com/2026/03/17/alleged-irregularities-in-elections-probed-by-riverside-county-sheriffs-office/","_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee0001","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee0002","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>Riverside County Registrar Art Tinoco said Langworthy’s group had misunderstood the polling data.
“Was there a discrepancy of 45,896 ballots between the ballots cast and those counted in the statewide special election on November 4, 2025?”. Tinoco said, according to the Riverside Press-Enterprise. “The answer to that is no.”
Bonta’s office has disputed the basis for issuing the warrant, saying in an earlier filing that the warrant application was “so inadequate that it failed to meet even the most basic constitutional and statutory standards.” The judge who signed the request has also signed biancopraised","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/03/chad-bianco-ballots-seized-riverside/","_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee0003","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee0004","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>praised biancoSaying that the county was “fortunate to have him.”
According to the affidavits, the relationship between Bianco’s office and the group goes back years. One official had previously been in contact with a pair of conservative activists who had alleged similar irregularities in previous election cycles and filed Public Records Act requests. One of them led","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://mtra.club/election-integrity","_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee0005","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee0006","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>led One was the election integrity arm of a local conservative group, and the other raised regularly","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.pressenterprise.com/2024/02/06/two-riverside-county-supervisors-sought-to-ease-election-doubts-they-didnt/","_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee0007","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee0008","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>picked up regularly Allegations of fraud at local Board of Supervisors meetings.
Similar groups have proliferated in recent years as President Donald Trump and other Republicans have made unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud.
Election integrity may also be before California voters in November: A ballot initiative that would require identification to vote has submitted more than a million signatures, fueled by a cash investment from major conservative donors. Election officials will announce in the coming weeks if it qualifies.
The court released affidavits supporting the warrant after Politico and other news organizations formally petitioned for his release. In an April 2 letter to a judge requesting the documents be unsealed, Bianco wrote that “sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
“We want to ensure that the public has confidence in a legitimate election,” Bianco wrote. “It is equally important for the public to have confidence in the integrity and outcome of this investigative process.”
You can read the affidavits supporting the warrant requests here","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000019d-6e91-d377-a1dd-6fd9fddd0000","_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee0009","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee000a","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>HereHere","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000019d-6e91-dd4f-a5ff-fed70e4f0000","_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee000b","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee000c","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>Hereand here","Add":{"Target": :"New","Property":(),"url": :"https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000019d-6e8a-d377-a1dd-6fdbb1270000","_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee000d","_Type": :"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_Identification": :"0000019d-70e5-df64-a7fd-f0fd4bee000e","_Type": :"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}”>Here.
