The California supreme court on Wednesday ordered a county sheriff and gubernatorial candidate who seized more than half a million 2025 election ballots to pause his investigation into election fraud allegations while the judges review the legal challenge against it.

The order came after the California attorney general, Rob Bonta, last month asked the court to step in, arguing the sheriff has no authority over election materials. A voting rights group is also challenging the ballot seizure.

The dispute started earlier this year and escalated last month when the Riverside county sheriff, Chad Bianco, seized 1,000 boxes of election materials to investigate a complaint from a local citizens group about the ballot count from a November 2025 special election on redistricting. Local election officials told the county board of supervisors that the complaint was unfounded. After Bonta ordered Bianco to halt his investigation, the sheriff seized another 426 boxes of ballots.

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