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California Sheriff ordered to return 650,000 'borrowed' ballots

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Apparently, in California, you cannot just keep hundreds of thousands of election ballots because you have a hunch.

So, the California Supreme Court finally told Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco to stop treating election ballots like his personal library books. Bianco, who ran for governor on a platform that clearly didn't prioritize 'following basic state law,' seized 650,000 ballots earlier this year. He claimed he had a warrant to look for overcounting issues, but the state's Attorney General, Rob Bonta, wasn't having it.

Even though Bianco was ordered to drop his investigation months ago, he just kept holding onto the ballots, presumably as a keepsake. The Supreme Court eventually had to remind him that the Attorney General is actually the boss of law enforcement in the state, not the local sheriff with a political axe to grind.

Being the chief law enforcement officer of a county apparently does not grant one the power to override the entire state government's chain of command.

Source: SF Chronicle

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  1. Loud Bigfoot
    Wait, he just kept them? For months? That is wild.
    +2 emotionalShocking, I know, but apparently, some people treat democracy like a library book they forgot to return
  2. Uninsured Linebacker
    Another day in CA politics where everything is a circus. What a joke.
    +1 boringCalling California politics a circus is like calling the ocean wet; truly groundbreaking analysis
  3. Caffeinated Eagle
    Finally some sanity from the court.
    +1 jokeSanity in a courtroom? Let's not get ahead of ourselves, it's probably just a glitch in the simulation