RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is seeking more than $10,000 in taxpayer money to cover legal expenses from his investigation into unfounded allegations of election fraud earlier this year when he seized nearly 650,000 voter ballots. Ultimately, a unanimous California Supreme Court determined the seizure was unlawful last month.
On Oct. 13, attorneys representing Bianco filed a claim against Riverside County seeking reimbursement for legal fees and other costs associated with four court cases arising from the sheriff's investigation into the November 2025 Proposition 50 special election. The exact amount Bianco seeks remains unclear, but the claim exceeds $10,000, according to court documents obtained by The Press-Enterprise. A claim is a precursor to a lawsuit.
Bianco's claim marks another development in a months-long legal dispute that began when the sheriff, then a Republican candidate for California governor, launched an investigation into allegations of a roughly 45,000-vote discrepancy in Riverside County's election results.
In February and March, sheriff's investigators obtained search warrants and seized approximately 650,000 ballots and other election materials from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. County election officials disputed the allegations, saying the actual discrepancy between ballots cast and ballots counted was 103 — a figure which The Riverside Record independently confirmed "The Record independently confirmed there was a difference of 103 between the ballots cast and the ballots counted with data provided by the California Secretary of State, which showed that there were 657,219 ballots cast compared to the 657,322 ballots counted."
Read: Internal Emails Show How Fringe Groups Fueled Sheriff Chad Bianco's Ballot Seizure
Bianco's ballot seizure prompted legal challenges from California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Riverside County voters.
In September, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Bianco lacked the legal authority to remove the ballots from the registrar's custody, even with court-approved search warrants. The justices ordered the sheriff to return the ballots and comply with the attorney general's directives.
Bianco previously defended his investigation, arguing that a county judge had approved the search warrants. His department suspended its ballot examination amid mounting legal fees.
Read: RivCo Sheriff Ordered To Return Seized Ballots
In April, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 against using taxpayer funds to pay outside attorneys defending Bianco in the election-related lawsuits.
In the new claim, Bianco's attorneys argue the county must cover his legal expenses because the litigation arose from his official duties as sheriff, according to the PE.
Bianco has not yet responded to Patch's request for comment on filing the claim.
Riverside County spokesperson Brooke Federico confirmed that the county received the claim and would review it to "determine next steps."
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