A state appellate court has flat-out rejected Democrat Attorney General Rob Bonta’s emergency writ to halt Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s bombshell investigation into 45,000 extra votes mysteriously counted in the November 2025 special election.
This is the latest chapter in Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s fearless fight against the Sacramento swamp.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican currently in a tight 2026 gubernatorial race with fellow Republican Steve Hilton, moved to seize approximately 650,000 ballots and initiate a recount after a citizens’ group reported significant discrepancies, according to CalMatters.
Sheriff Chad Bianco revealed that a team of 10 investigators had already begun counting ballots before being ordered to halt their work, as part of an ongoing election investigation, The Sun reported.
According to Bianco, the team’s initial progress suggested that counting the approximately 611,000 ballots would take about five days to complete. However, the effort was paused before a full review could be conducted.
The investigation was launched following a complaint filed by a citizen-led election watchdog group. The Riverside Election Integrity Team alleges a discrepancy of roughly 45,000 votes between the number of ballots received and those officially counted in Riverside County during the November election tied to Proposition 50.
AG Bonta’s office had demanded the sheriff’s department pause everything, claiming “grave concerns” and whining that Bianco hadn’t identified a specific crime.
Bonta tried to claim that Bianco, a veteran law enforcement officer, had no “legal authority” to act as an election monitor. He called the investigation a “fishing expedition” and a “threat to democracy.”
In a fiery statement posted to X, Sheriff Bianco didn’t mince words about Bonta’s attempts to obstruct justice:
Sheriff Chad Bianco:
“Hello, California. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco—and your next governor. Well, well, well, the political corruption in California just gets bigger and bigger. Our embarrassment to law enforcement, Attorney General Rob Bonta, has just filed an emergency writ with the Court of Appeals to stop ballots from being counted in Riverside County.For those not aware, we are conducting an investigation into an alleged and potential 45,000 extra votes counted than the number of ballots cast in the November 2025 special election.
So we are all clear—this isn’t about counting yes and no votes. This is simply counting the total ballots and comparing that total with the number of votes reported by the Dominion machines. Plain and simple, common sense.
Not only did a superior court judge approve a warrant to obtain the ballots, but also issued a separate order to count them. Why in the world would Rob Bonta want that count stopped unless he was afraid of what that count would uncover?
We have an extremely politically biased appeals court, so this is going to be interesting. What’s it going to be—let law enforcement count the ballots as part of a lawful investigation, or halt the investigation and sweep it under the rug? All California voters should be demanding transparency, not legal maneuvers and cover-ups. Stay tuned.”
WATCH:
BREAKING: Attorney General Rob Bonta just filed an emergency writ with the court of appeals to stop ballots from being counted.
For those not aware, we are investigating a reported discrepancy of 45,000 votes. pic.twitter.com/V882Ks8ZEt
— Sheriff Chad Bianco (@ChadBianco) March 24, 2026
The 4th District Court of Appeal saw right through the political theater. In a short, sharp ruling, the three-judge panel struck down Bonta’s request, effectively telling the AG that if he has a problem, he needs to take it up with the local Riverside court that authorized the warrants in the first place.
The Sun reported:
According to online court records, a three-judge panel in the Fourth Appellate District rejected Bonta’s petition to suspend the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department’s probe of whether a gap exists between ballots received by the county and ballots counted in November’s Proposition 50 special election.
No reason was given for the ruling, a copy of which wasn’t immediately available Tuesday evening.
In an emailed statement, Bonta’s office said: “The facts have not changed. The Riverside County Sheriff continues to directly defy the Attorney General’s instructions, in violation of the California Constitution and state law.”
It added: “The Court of Appeal’s decision was based solely on where we filed the case and is not a ruling on the underlying merits of the petition. We are evaluating next steps to ensure a swift and appropriate resolution to this matter.”
During a Los Angeles County campaign event Tuesday evening, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco addressed the court’s ruling and said his investigators’ counting should resume Wednesday, March 25.
He called Bonta “a failed attorney general” and said “today, the court of appeals threw out his writ with zero merit.”
WATCH:
A desperate @AGRobBonta filed a writ with a CA Court of Appeal trying to prevent @ChadBianco from uncovering evidence of election/voter fraud regsrding Prop 50. The court told Bonta to POUND SAND.
A massive victory for the citizens of CA and huge loss for the corrupt AG. pic.twitter.com/zNiuZWV1Bg
— David Wohl (@DavidWohl) March 25, 2026
The post California Court SMACKS DOWN Corrupt AG Rob Bonta’s Attempt to Block Sheriff Chad Bianco’s Massive 650,000 Ballot Investigation appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.