Transcript
MADISON AUMENT: California's Supreme Court has ruled that the Republican sheriff in Riverside County illegally seized hundreds of thousands of ballots earlier this year, and must return them. The ballots were from a vote on Proposition 50, which asked whether to redraw California's congressional map to favor Democrats. Sheriff Chad Bianco said he took the ballots from the county registrar to investigate alleged voter fraud. State and county election officials said those claims were unsubstantiated. California's Attorney General Rob Bonta told Bianco to pause the investigation. Yesterday, the court ruled that Bianco bypassed election law by taking the ballots and defied Bonta's authority. Bonta says the rulings help protect election integrity.
ROB BONTA: The Riverside County Sheriff is not above the law, and state law must be enforced.
AUMENT: For his part, Bianco says he's disappointed, but he'll return the ballots.
CHAD BIANCO: Court orders are legal; they're lawful; they're binding, and I will abide by them.
AUMENT: The court's decisions are important beyond Riverside County. Justin Levitt, who's a law professor at Loyola Law School, says they'll benefit all California voters.
JUSTIN LEVITT: Every judge in the state knows that something like this is off the table for the future.
AUMENT: Ballots for November's midterm elections will go out in just a few weeks. For KVCR News , I'm Madison Aument in San Bernardino.
