VRP Wins CA Supreme Court Case Ordering Sheriff Chad Bianco to Return Illegally Seized Ballots 

On Thursday morning, the California Supreme Court issued its opinion on Sheriff Bianco's seizure of approximately 650,000 voted ballots from the November 2025 special election. The court found the seizure unlawful, and ordered Bianco to return the ballots to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters' possession. 

“The Court’s decision reaffirms a basic principle that in California, the Election Code applies to everyone, including law enforcement,” said Chad Dunn, Legal Director of the VRP. “These are the voters’ ballots. They must be protected through the processes the Legislature has established. This ruling provides important clarity for election officials, law enforcement, and voters across California.”

Read the full press release.

Governor Newsom Signs New Laws to Protect California Elections from Trump Interference

On Saturday Governor Newsom signed package of pro-democracy legislation aimed at strengthening California’s election defenses and preventing election interference.

Included in the election protection and pro-democracy bill package are Senate Bills 1164 and 1360, which update and expand the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 to further protect voters from voter suppression and vote dilution, and increase language access services and the types of translated election-related materials for voters.

Did You Know?💡

Amongst California counties

(Source: 2024 5-year ACS)

“The high court for the state of California has spoken,” Clarissa Cervantes, a Riverside city councilwoman and a plaintiff in one of the cases, said in a statement. “The rule of law has been upheld, and your sacred ballot and vote are constitutionally protected from any outside political interference.”

California Supreme Court orders seized ballots returned in Riverside County case. The rulings were a win for Democrats and a sweeping rebuke to Republican Sheriff Chad Bianco.

VRP Director, Matt Barreto, tells the San Francisco Chronicle Prop 39 could disenfranchise millions of CA voters.

Recent legal defeats of Trump and his allies in their efforts to disrupt mail-in voting or seize ballots, show that there are still plenty of checks on Trump and his acolytes’ power. Sonni Waknin, Senior Staff Attorney with the VRP, says California is well-positioned to aggressively fight election interference and win.

“People are not going to want to fill out a government form telling the government where they live and the names of household members who are not U.S. citizens while you have a president who is actively running a massive deportation regime,” said UCLA VRP Faculty Director, Matt Barreto. 

💼Employment Opportunities - Come work with the VRP!🚨

Staff Attorney

The UCLA Voting Rights Project (VRP) seeks an experienced litigation, trial, and appellate attorney to work on a new project focused on California county, city, school, and state redistricting plans and election policies. Reporting to the Legal Director, the staff attorney/California Voting Rights Counsel will play a critical role in the VRP, developing a new program along with data scientists, to track and analyze redistricting plans and proposed changes within local jurisdictions throughout the state of California. See the full job description here.