A three-judge panel has denied a filing by California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, seeking a court order to stop the Riverside county sheriff’s department from continuing its recount of ballots from the November 2025 special election.

The LA Times reported that Bonta filed a petition with the fourth appellate district on Monday, writing that “the sheriff’s misguided investigation threatens to sow distrust and jeopardize public confidence” in upcoming elections.

On Tuesday, the fourth appellate district court denied the 70-page petition, stating that Bonta should apply with a lower court.

The move comes after Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican gubernatorial candidate, last week seized over 650,000 ballots cast in Riverside county from last November’s election that resulted in the passage of Proposition 50. The proposition redrew congressional districts to help gerrymander the state in favor of Democrats, in response to similar measures in Republican states such as Texas.

California Republicans, joined by the Trump administration, challenged the measure, but the US supreme court denied an emergency petition to keep the new maps from moving forward.

Bianco said his recounting efforts stemmed from claims the results were off by 45,800 votes, but Bonta and Art Tinoco, the registrar of voters for the Riverside county board of supervisors, have assured the votes differed by about 100 votes.

Bianco said at a press conference on Friday that a Riverside superior court judge appointed a special master to count the ballots. “This investigation is simple: physically count the ballots and compare that result with the total votes recorded,” Bianco said.

“There is no indication, anywhere in the United States, of widespread voter fraud,” Bonta said in a statement, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Counts, recounts, hand counts, audits, and court cases all support this.”

Bonta has repeatedly sent letters to Bianco’s office over the past two months saying his staff is not qualified to conduct a recount. In one of the letters, Bonta wrote that the ballot seizure was “unacceptable” and “sets a dangerous precedent and will only sow distrust in our elections”.

The executive director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, Chandra Bhatnagar, has shown support for Bonta and called Bianco’s claims “misleading” on Tuesday.

“Let’s be clear: no sheriff has a legitimate role – much less experience – in administering our elections or in handling hundreds of thousands of voters’ ballots,” said Bhatnagar. “The sheriff’s investigation represents a serious threat to voter privacy, undermines our democratic process and raises questions about the misuse of law enforcement authority for political gain.”

Roque Planas contributed reporting