Sheriff, State Elections Chief Clash over County-Level Probe

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber Friday criticized Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s decision to assign local law enforcement personnel to carry out a probe into possible election irregularities, amid his quest to be the Republican gubernatorial candidate.

“The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office has taken actions based on allegations that lack credible evidence and risk undermining public confidence in our elections.,” Weber said. “The sheriff’s assertion that his deputies know how to count is admirable. The fact remains that he and his deputies are not elections officials, and they do not have expertise in election administration.”

Bianco has tasked personnel with looking into possible discrepancies that surfaced in last November’s special election, based on findings provided by election watchdog group Riverside Election Integrity Team.

During a workshop in February, REIT announced there had been 45,800 ballots counted beyond the number publicly documented in election records.



https://mynewsla.com/crime/2026/03/20/sheriff-state-elections-chief-clash-over-county-level-probe/