Chad Bianco’s 650,000-Ballot Adventure Ends With California Supreme Court Saying: Put Them Back

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has discovered that there are apparently some things even a search warrant cannot simply pick up and carry away. The California Supreme Court ruled on September 24 that Bianco’s seizure of approximately 650,000 ballots from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters was unlawful, ordering him to return the ballots to the registrar’s custody. The Republican sheriff had argued that the seizure was part of an investigation into alleged discrepancies in the 2025 special election, but the court said California law required voted ballots to remain in the custody of election officials.

Chad Bianco Takes 650,000 Ballots; Supreme Court Takes Issue

Chad Bianco’s ballot operation began in March 2026, when his department seized roughly 1,000 boxes containing ballots from the November 2025 special election. Bianco said the move was connected to an investigation into claims of irregularities in the election count. The alleged discrepancy itself was disputed: a community group cited a much larger difference, while the Riverside County Registrar said the difference was about 103 votes, or 0.016 percent. The Supreme Court specifically said it was not deciding that underlying factual dispute.

For Chad Bianco, however, the problem eventually moved from the question of what the ballots contained to the rather less comfortable question of who was legally allowed to possess them. The Supreme Court concluded that California law expressly protected the custody of voted ballots and that even a criminal investigation did not authorize their removal from the election official’s custody. In other words, the ballots could apparently be investigated without taking them on an extended field trip through the sheriff’s department.

Chad Bianco Ordered to Return the Ballots

The Supreme Court’s decision was unanimous and directed Chad Bianco to return the seized ballots to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. The court also ordered him to refrain from further handling the ballots except where necessary to comply with the ruling. The justices emphasized that election misconduct can be investigated through established legal procedures without compromising the custody and integrity of voted ballots.

The ruling therefore turned what began as a ballot investigation into a major legal dispute over election procedures and the limits of law-enforcement authority. Chad Bianco had maintained that his actions were permissible because his department had obtained search warrants. The Supreme Court, however, held that those warrants could not override the Elections Code’s specific requirements governing the custody of voted ballots.

The saga has also arrived at a politically sensitive moment. Chad Bianco had been a Republican candidate for California governor, while the ballot seizure attracted criticism from California officials who argued that removing hundreds of thousands of ballots from election custody threatened confidence in the electoral process. Governor Gavin Newsom subsequently signed legislation expanding protections around election materials, including provisions addressing unauthorized seizure of ballots and election records.

For now, the California Supreme Court has delivered its answer on the central custody question: Chad Bianco’s seizure of the ballots was unlawful, and the ballots must return to the registrar. Whether the broader political and legal arguments surrounding the investigation end there is another matter entirely. OGM News will be watching the next chapter — because with 650,000 ballots, multiple court rulings and an election investigation already in the history books, this story clearly has more paperwork waiting in the wings.