The California State Supreme Court ordered Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to return 650,000 ballots.
Posted by What A Day, Checked
- Sources
- 5 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 95%
What A DayOct 22, 2026
The California Supreme Court ruled unanimously on September 24, 2026 that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco had no legal right to seize about 650,000 ballots and ordered them returned, matching the claim. The extraction faithfully reflects the post, which says the sheriff was ordered by the state Supreme Court to return 650,000 ballots.
What was said
… had to be stopped and blocked from interfering in our election here in California and throughout the country, at least with respect to vote-by-mail, by the U.S. Supreme Court, the highest court in the land. So, it hasn't just been federal officials. We had the Riverside Sheriff, who was ordered to return 650,000 ballots by the California State Supreme Court. What went wrong there? And I think, for many voters in California, they'd be wondering: What stops Riverside Sheriff or another sheriff or another county in California from doing that again on November 3? …
What A Day · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. The California Courts Newsroom, a primary government source, reports the state Supreme Court unanimously ruled Bianco had no right to seize 650,000 ballots and must return them to the registrar.[2]
Supports. AP, carried by NBC News, reports the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Republican sheriff must return more than a half-million seized ballots, calling the seizure unlawful.[1][3]
Supports. KQED and the San Francisco Chronicle independently report the court ordered Bianco to return the roughly 650,000 ballots to county election officials.[4][5]
Context. The ruling followed an August 2026 hearing and Bianco said he would comply; the post's October 22 date is after the September 24 ruling, so the claim describes a settled order.[1][2][5]
Sources
5 sources: 1 fact-checker, 1 primary, 1 tier 2, 2 not rated
- 1California Supreme Court orders sheriff to return half ...apnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 2Riverside sheriff had no right to seize 650000 ballots ...newsroom.courts.ca.gov · primary source · cited for: supports, context
- 3California Supreme Court orders GOP sheriff to return ...nbcnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 4Republican Sheriff Illegally Seized Over 650000 Ballots ...kqed.org · not rated · cited for: supports
- 5California Supreme Court says Riverside sheriff wrong to ...sfchronicle.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
Related claims
- The California Supreme Court ruled that Sheriff Chad Bianco violated state election law by seizing 650,000 ballots for the Prop 50 special election on redistricting.True
- Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco removed ballots from the custody and control of the local registrar of voters.True
- The Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against California regarding the counting of 20,000 illegal ballots.True
- The California legislature and the governor have imposed criminal liability on individuals who remove ballots from the custody and control of local elections officials.True
- The Department of Justice sued California to stop the counting of thousands of ballots.True