Election law

The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is sending roughly 1,000 federal monitors nationwide for Election Day, including to Pennsylvania counties where state law bars them from entering polling places. DOJ has said ICE and FBI personnel won't serve as monitors, though staff from agencies like the DEA, ATF and Federal Bureau of Prisons may participate without firearms or enforcement authority. Chicago has coordinated security with police, the FBI and emergency officials amid concerns over immigration enforcement near polling sites, while a coalition of civil rights groups is deploying lawyers and poll monitors. California is separately sending attorneys and observers to battleground districts, and DOJ continues legal challenges over noncitizen voter rolls.

California's Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco broke state election law when he seized more than 650,000 ballots from the county's registrar of voters earlier this year, and broke it again by defying Attorney General Rob Bonta's order to reverse course. Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero wrote that state law mandates ballots remain in the custody of election officials, rejecting Bianco's argument that a search warrant justified the seizure. The court ordered Bianco to return the ballots and end his investigation pending review by Bonta's office. A second ruling affirmed the attorney general's constitutional authority to directly supervise sheriffs, rejecting Bianco's claim that such oversight is merely advisory.

Bianco seized the ballots after a November 2025 special election on redistricting, spurred by activists alleging discrepancies later attributed to misread preliminary data. In response, California enacted two new laws making it a felony to seize ballots or voting machines before certification. Bianco has said his investigation will continue regardless of the ruling.

The California Supreme Court heard oral arguments on whether Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco must return more than 650,000 ballots (over 1,400 boxes) seized in March from local election officials during an investigation into unsubstantiated fraud claims tied to a November special election on redistricting (Proposition 50). Justices appeared skeptical of arguments from Bianco's attorney, Bradley Hertz, who claimed sheriffs can seize ballots under warrant regardless of state election law, and that Attorney General Rob Bonta lacks authority to order sheriffs to stand down. Justices questioned both points, with one calling Hertz's reasoning "bizarre" and another "counterintuitive."

Bianco, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate, defied Bonta's order to halt the seizure and began counting ballots before the state Supreme Court intervened in April. Bianco said he would comply if ordered to return the ballots but may continue his investigation regardless. Voting rights advocates, including likely gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra, frame the case as a test of sheriff authority ahead of the 2026 midterms amid broader efforts by Trump-aligned officials to challenge election administration. A ruling is expected in coming months.