GOP sheriff in California pauses election probe as legal challenges grow

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A Republican California sheriff who seized more than half a million 2025 election ballots said he has paused the probe into election fraud allegations, citing mounting legal challenges from the state attorney general and a voting rights group.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is also one of two prominent Republican gubernatorial candidates in the state, said in a statement Saturday that his office put the investigation on hold “because of the politically motivated lawsuits and court filings.”

The reversal comes after Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta and the UCLA Voting Rights Project launched legal challenges last week, arguing the sheriff has no authority over election materials.

Bianco previously said that the investigation — and the seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November election — was legal and approved by a Riverside County judge. He doubled down last week by taking more ballots from a county election office after receiving orders from Bonta's office to stop.

Bonta's office said Monday it will continue with its petitions in the California Supreme Court and the superior court.

“Our focus is on what the Sheriff does, not what he says,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

The UCLA Voting Rights Project, in a petition filed Monday on behalf of several Riverside County voters, is also asking the state Supreme Court to order Bianco to return the ballots while the case plays out.

“Our election law is clear that voted ballots are to remain in the custody of election officials, and nothing the sheriff has presented changes that basic rule,” Sonni Waknin, an attorney with the group, said in a statement.

The dispute started in February and escalated this month when Bianco seized 1,000 boxes of election materials to investigate a complaint from a local citizens group about the ballot count from a November 2025 special election on redistricting. Local election officials told the county Board of Supervisors last month that the complaint was unfounded. After Bonta ordered Bianco to halt his probe, the sheriff seized another 426 boxes of ballots last week.

The ballot investigation came as President Donald Trump has repeatedly disputed the results of the 2020 election, citing unsubstantiated instances of fraud. His administration recently seized ballots and other documents from an election office in Georgia. Some Republicans have mirrored Trump’s rhetoric on voting in their states.