Bianco Gives Update On Election Investigation, Accuses AG Bonta Of Interference

Sheriff Chad Bianco Friday addressed his department’s ongoing investigation, first reported by The Riverside Record, into alleged election irregularities in last November’s special statewide election while also accusing California Attorney General Rob Bonta of interference.

“The purpose of this investigation is just as much to prove the election is accurate as it is to show otherwise,” Bianco said at a press conference. “We will not know until the count is complete.”

As part of the investigation, Bianco said his department on February 9 served the Registrar of Voters’ (ROV) office with a warrant approved and signed by a judge for election materials related to the 2025 special election, one day before ROV Art Tinoco provided a presentation about the alleged irregularities during a workshop held by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. 

At that workshop, Tinoco told supervisors the 45,896 discrepancy between the number of ballots cast and ballots counted alleged by a group of local residents calling themselves the Riverside Election Integrity Team (REIT) was incorrect because their audit relied on handwritten documents based on the hand-counting of ballots.

“The office uses these handwritten forms as reference guides only when auditing,” Tinoco said at the workshop. “Because these documents reflect raw, hand-counted ballots before full processing.”

Tinoco said the actual difference between the number of ballots cast and ballots counted was 103 based on information from the county’s Election Information Management System and the Liberty Vote System, which was reported to the California Secretary of State’s Office (SOS) and confirmed by The Riverside Record.

For Bianco, REIT’s allegations were enough to launch an investigation and, according to Bonta, seize approximately 1,000 boxes of ballot materials related to last November’s statewide special election.

“Our investigation will determine the validity of that alleged discrepancy, and if found true, we will determine the cause,” Bianco said at Friday’s press conference. “We will do that by physically counting the ballots. This is not a recount to determine how many votes were for or against Prop 50.”

County Executive Officer Jeff Van Wagenen said in a statement sent to The Record that the county and the ROV would continue to comply with “all lawful court orders and with all legal obligations applicable to election materials and election administration.”

“All five members of the board of supervisors and the [ROV] are committed to safe, secure, accurate, and lawful elections in Riverside County,” he said. “County election staff follow detailed procedures established by state and federal law to protect the integrity of the vote and to ensure that every eligible ballot is processed and counted in accordance with those legal requirements.”

Bianco said the count, which was set to begin earlier this month after the sheriff’s department executed a second search warrant at the ROV’s office February 23 and was stopped at the request of the AG’s office, would be restarted as the result of a Thursday court order.

The court order, despite Bianco’s claim that it was part of the public record, was sealed. 

“A Riverside Superior Court judge issued an order to appoint a special master to resume counting the ballots under direction of the court and the court’s jurisdiction over all evidence,” Bianco said. “This investigation will continue, despite AG Bonta’s attempts to stop it.”

According to letters sent from the AG’s office to the sheriff, and reviewed by The Record, the DOJ had “serious concerns as to whether probable cause existed to support the issuance of the warrants and whether your office presented the magistrate with all material evidence as required by law.” Both warrants remain sealed, according to the Riverside County Superior Court.

The AG’s letter also noted that the sheriff at first had indicated that it planned to start the count over the objections of the office.

“Let me be clear: this is unacceptable,” Bonta wrote in a March 5 letter. “Your decision to seize ballots and begin counting them based on vague, unsubstantiated allegations about irregularities in the November special election results sets a dangerous precedent and will only sow distrust in our elections.”

Bianco scoffed at the notion, saying during the press conference that it was “absolutely ridiculous.”

“What does sow mistrust in our system is failing to conduct an investigation, or worse, attempting to stop or interfere with a lawful investigation to sweep it under the rug so evidence can possibly be destroyed,” he said.

According to elections code, ballots from elections that don’t involve races for president, vice president or congress, are destroyed after six months unless there is an ongoing investigation into potential election fraud or the outcome has been contested, in which case the ballots remain intact.

After Bianco confirmed in an email to the DOJ that he would comply with Bonta’s directive of “standing down all further investigative action in this matter,” Bonta sent a follow-up letter asking the department to provide his office with copies of the case files related to the current investigation and the prior investigations referenced in the two February warrants.

The AG specifically requested all reports and supplements for both the current or any other related investigations; a copy of a January 29, 2023, warrant and a March 6, 2024, warrant as well as the affidavits submitted in support of the warrant application; all correspondence between Greg Langworthy or REIT and any member of the sheriff’s department including voicemails, emails and text messages; and all correspondence in any form between RSO and ROV as described in the February search warrants.

The AG’s office said the sheriff had provided very few of the documents requested.

“What we have been able to learn raises serious questions about the merits of this investigation,” Bonta said in a statement sent to The Record. “We are especially concerned with legal deficiencies in the affidavits underlying the warrants, including the omission of material facts.”

Bonta called the investigation “unprecedented” in both scope and scale and appeared “not to be based on facts or evidence, but on unfounded allegations that have already been refuted by the Riverside [County] Registrar of Voters.”

“There is no indication, anywhere in the United States, of widespread voter fraud,” Bonta said. “Counts, recounts, hand counts, audits and court cases all support this.”

He said election integrity and public confidence in elections were “matters of statewide concern,” and that his office, along with the SOS, were committed to ensuring elections were safe and secure.

In a statement sent to The Record, SOS Shirley N. Weber said Bianco’s assertion that his deputies knew how to count was “admirable,” but noted that the law enforcement officers lacked expertise in the administration of elections.

“Investigations into election processes must be conducted by those with the appropriate legal authority and subject matter expertise,” Weber said. “Similar claims raised in other states by individuals without election administration experience have been thoroughly reviewed and debunked.”

Weber said her office had been reviewing the allegations and had found them, at this point, to be unsubstantiated. She also pushed back against Bianco’s assertion that her office had engaged in “outrage” and “intimidation,” in an effort to stop the investigation.

“Any such claim is false,” she said. “If these or other allegations are being made, they should be supported with clear and verifiable evidence.”

Bianco also directed his ire at District 1 Supervisor Jose Medina, who last summer pushed for additional oversight of the sheriff’s office and this month publicly called on him to take a leave of absence. Medina, in an interview with The Record, said he was “not surprised.”

“It’s not the first time,” he said. “I’m sure it won’t be the last time.”

When asked whether his current run for governor had any impact on the investigation, he said it had “absolutely nothing to do with it.

“I’m the sheriff of Riverside County,” he said. “I have a duty to make sure we investigate crime in Riverside County or alleged crime in Riverside County, so we will conduct this investigation as thoroughly as possible.”

Bianco said his office first started investigating allegations of potential election fraud in October 2022. That investigation, he said, was still ongoing.

Both Bonta and Weber are seeking re-election and are also on the ballot in June. 

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect Supervisor Jose Medina represents District 1, not District 5. The Record regrets the error.