Sheriff's Ballot Seizure Sparks Court Showdown

0:00It's April 21st. I'm Cory with the story, and this is California News Today, your AI-powered local news. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco made headlines by seizing 650,000 ballots in March, the first time a sheriff's grabbed. Previously casbots, like that, in US history. Emails uncovered by investigators show his years-long probe kicked off from wild frog claims by fringe activists, built on next to no solid proof. It all started back in spring of 2022, when a woman named Shelby Bunch pushed officials on supposed election scams, tying into a... Sessionist Group The sheriff's first investigators shut it down quick for lack of evidence, but Bunch kept pressing and allies from the constitutional sheriffs. Movement jumped in, convincing Bianco to relaunch a bigger hunt. Locals and state leaders pushed back hard, with frustration boiling over county hearings where fraud hunters clashed with the registrar. The attorney general Rob Bonta fired off letters demanding Bianco pause, calling it

1:02a power grab without cause, but the sheriff ignored him flat out, and went public, blasting Bonta as an embarrassment. New details from the emails paying Bianco doubting some claims himself, yet he rolled on, getting a sealed warrant from a judge backed by his political circle. This ties into a wider network of sheriffs chasing unproven fraud theories linked to Trump era pushes and think tanks. Now the showdowns hitting California's Supreme Court, testing sheriff powers versus state oversight, just as Riverside's key district could tip house. Control this November, watch how this plays out come primary season.