Bill seeks to stop repeat of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco's ballot seizure

Jeff Horseman, The Orange County Register on Apr 29, 2026

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RIVERSIDE, Calif. — An Inland Empire state senator wants to keep cops away from ballot boxes.

To that end, state Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, a Riverside Democrat, announced new legislation Tuesday to prevent a repeat of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s controversial investigation that seized more than 650,000 ballots cast by voters in November’s Proposition 50 special election.

“Democracy in California is under attack, not only by the Trump Administration but also by some officials in our state, including” Bianco, Cervantes said in a news release.

“We have a responsibility to protect the voices of California voters, and we will not stand by as outside forces seek to undermine our electoral process.”

In an emailed statement, Bianco, a Republican candidate for governor, said: “Let me fix it for you: Senator Cervantes introduced a bill to prevent election corruption and fraud from being investigated and exposed in California.”

“I would remind everyone that this bill does nothing to prevent out-of-state residents, illegal immigrants, dead people, or dogs from voting in our elections,” he added.

Instances of voter fraud in U.S. elections are very rare, studies show.

After taking out search warrants signed by a judge, Bianco’s investigators in February and March confiscated ballots cast by Riverside County voters in November.

Proposition 50, which passed statewide and in the county, redrew congressional maps to give California Democrats a better chance of picking up seats in the upcoming midterm election.

The sheriff has said he’s not looking to change the election’s outcome. Rather, he said he’s investigating whether a 45,000-vote gap — alleged by a citizen’s election watchdog group — exists between Riverside County ballots cast and received in the election and if so, what caused it.

Critics argue that Bianco’s investigation is an unprecedented political stunt based on debunked allegations that threatens to undermine public faith in elections.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta went to court to halt Bianco’s probe. The state Supreme Court ordered a pause in the investigation pending further judicial review.

Cervantes’ bill, SB 73, would make it illegal to take already-cast ballots from local elections officials. Anyone who does so could be sued civilly.

“Existing state law is clear that after the certification of election results, the chain of custody of voted ballots must remain intact,” the release from Cervantes’ office said.

“To protect the evidentiary use of those ballots, they should not be taken from the custody of the relevant elections official, even when an investigation is being conducted.”

The Proposition 50 ballots seized by Bianco’s department “are spoiled forever because that chain of custody was broken, even though they have been returned to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters,” the release added.

SB 73 calls for other steps to protect California elections from what Cervantes’ office described as outside interference.

Building on existing state law that bars law enforcement from going near polls without a county elections officer’s permission, Cervantes’ bill would bar the military from being deployed to voting locations.

President Donald Trump’s critics fear he might send soldiers to polls to intimidate voters in the midterms, which are expected to go poorly for Republicans.

SB 73 also would ban law enforcement from observing vote-by-mail signature verification while on active duty.

“This will protect elections workers from the prospect of being intimidated by having armed law enforcement officers standing over their shoulders as they work to process vote-by-mail ballots,” Cervantes’ release states.

The senator’s bill also would bar anyone from allowing law enforcement to seize voting machines or voter rolls without a warrant.

Cervantes’ bill comes as two of her election bills recently passed Senate committees.

The bills, known as the California Voting Rights Act of 2026, seek to help voters with limited English proficiency understand ballots and give the public and attorney general more legal options to pursue alleged voting rights infractions.

Cervantes is the sister of Riverside City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes, who is running for state Assembly as a Democrat. Clarissa Cervantes is one of the plaintiffs in a UCLA Voting Rights Project lawsuit that sought to return ballots seized by Bianco’s department to the Riverside County registrar.

Clarissa Cervantes also sued the sheriff for social media comments he made after the 2022 arrest of protesters accused of vandalizing the Riverside Historic Courthouse.

She eventually dropped her libel lawsuit against Bianco, who accused the council member of supporting the vandalism.

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(Horseman is a staff writer at the Riverside Press-Enterprise.)

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