Chad Bianco Tells Rob Bonta 'Nothing Stays Hidden Forever' After Ballot Ruling

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told Attorney General Rob Bonta that "nothing stays hidden forever" after the California Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that he broke state election law by seizing more than 650,000 ballots, CBS News reported. Bianco said in an email to supporters that he will comply with the ruling, ABC News reported. In a statement shared later Thursday with The Associated Press, Bianco said he was "very disappointed" and "wholeheartedly" disagreed with the ruling, ABC News reported.

"My message to Bonta is simple: you may have succeeded in burying the truth—for now," Bianco wrote after the decision, according to CBS News. "But nothing stays hidden forever. In time, everything comes to light."

Why it matters

The ruling settles two questions: voted ballots stay with elections officials even during a criminal investigation, and the attorney general's orders to sheriffs are binding. Election officials and civil rights groups followed the case as they brace for the possibility that President Donald Trump or his allies try to seize ballots in November, ABC News reported.

Key points

• The court unanimously ordered Bianco to return the ballots and end his probe, finding a search warrant does not override election law.
• Bianco says he will obey the writs but told Bonta the truth was buried only "for now."
• The redistricting measure Bianco investigated passed statewide and won his own county by roughly 80,000 votes.

What the court ruled on Bianco's search warrants

The court ruled that a search warrant does not override state election law, rejecting arguments from Bianco's attorney that the sheriff had a duty to investigate the complaint, ABC News reported.

The justices wrote in their ruling that the law's plain text "mandates that voted ballots remain in the custody of elections officials." The court also said existing law provides other ways to examine ballots without seizing them.

The Washington Post reported the justices found Bianco lacked authority to review the ballots based on what the paper described as a thin fraud allegation.

Bianco's vote-count claim and 2028 campaign ad

In an ad for his 2028 sheriff reelection campaign, Bianco said the ruling gave the attorney general's office "unchecked power over any investigation in the state of California." "I will obey the writs," he wrote. "I will not obey the message behind them — that local law enforcement works for Sacramento, not for the people who elected us."

Bianco seized the ballots earlier this year from the November 2025 special election on Proposition 50, which redrew California's congressional districts to favor Democrats, ABC News reported. The measure passed easily statewide and won Riverside County by roughly 80,000 votes.

Bianco said a local group found a gap of about 45,000 votes between ballots cast and ballots received, ABC News reported. Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco said the group misread the data and the actual gap was 103 votes, within the secretary of state's margin of error, ABC News reported.

Rob Bonta, Gavin Newsom and Xavier Becerra

Xavier Becerra, the former state attorney general running for governor, is part of the UCLA Voting Rights Project lawsuit that produced one of the two rulings, ABC News reported. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who signed bills over the weekend meant to prevent ballot seizures, said the ruling "affirms that in California we will defend democracy," CBS News reported.