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The California Attorney General’s office has asked a court to immediately pause a Republican county sheriff’s investigation into last year’s redistricting referendum election, arguing his seizure of more than 650,000 ballots “threatens to create a dangerous precedent.”

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s move to take custody of the ballots is the third major attack on elections in recent weeks, following the FBI’s conspiracy-fueled raid of a Georgia elections office and an FBI subpoena seeking documents related to an Arizona election audit, which both focused on the 2020 presidential vote.

But a local law enforcement officer seizing all ballots cast in an election is “unprecedented in state history,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) said.

Bonta filed the lawsuit Monday night in state appellate court, asking the court to issue an immediate stay of the investigation behind the ballot seizure and to compel Bianco to comply with his office’s orders.

“The Sheriff’s actions — launching an unprecedented criminal investigation into the special election without identifying any particular crime that may have been committed by anyone, and openly defying the Attorney General’s lawful directives — demand immediate judicial intervention,” the filing said.