California court denies appeal to stop Riverside County Sheriff's election fraud investigation A California court ruled Tuesday that the state attorney general’s attempt to halt an investigation into alleged election fraud in Riverside County was unsuccessful. The appellate court denied the request, citing the location where the case was filed rather than the merits of the petition. California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office emphasized that the decision does not reflect on the validity of the investigation, which focuses on the actions of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. Bianco, a Republican running for governor, is accused of seizing over 611,000 ballots from the Prop 50 special election, which approved a redistricting measure shifting five Republican U.S. House seats to more Democratic-leaning districts. The measure passed in Riverside County with over 56% of the vote, according to The Associated Press. The ballots supporting the new maps exceeded those opposing them by approximately 82,570 votes. Bianco claimed his agency was investigating a complaint alleging a discrepancy of about 45,800 votes between the total reported to the state and the actual count. He described the probe as a “fact-finding mission” to physically count ballots and compare the results with the official tally. However, Secretary of State Shirley Weber dismissed the allegations, stating they lack credible evidence and could undermine public trust in elections. She noted that Bianco’s staff is not qualified to conduct election investigations, as they lack expertise in election administration. County elections officials confirmed that the machine count and the final tally submitted to the state differed by around 100 votes.#chad_bianco #rob_bonta #california_attorney_general #riverside_county_sheriff #shirley_weber
