The election denialism movement is rearing its head in California, and the key players include a Republican sheriff who is a top candidate to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom and a registrar of voters who has long been opposed to voting machines.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco seized an additional 426 boxes of ballot materials from the office of the county’s registrar of voters last week, my colleague Grace Toohey reports.
You’re reading the Essential California newsletter
Sign up to start every day with California’s most important stories.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
This comes one month after Bianco’s department took more than 650,000 ballots — from about 1,000 boxes — cast in Riverside County in the November election for Proposition 50, which has temporarily redrawn the state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats.
Bianco, an outspoken Trump supporter, said his investigators were looking into allegations by a local citizens group that “did their own audit” and found that the county’s tally was falsely inflated by more than 45,000 votes — a claim that local election officials have rejected.
Bianco’s actions put him at further odds with California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, who has called on the sheriff to halt the investigation, citing legal and ethical concerns.
Here’s more of what we know.
Behind-the-scenes maneuvering in Shasta County
Before Bianco’s department seized boxes of ballot materials, he said “a group of concerned citizens” told him about an audit they performed that found 45,896 more ballots were counted than were cast.
Art Tinoco, the Riverside County registrar of voters, disputed the group’s allegations, saying they were based on a misunderstanding of raw data that had not been fully processed. The actual discrepancy, Tinoco told The Times, was 103 votes.
Clint Curtis, Shasta County’s registrar of voters, took up the cause instead. Curtis — a Florida resident until about a year ago — traveled to Riverside County to work with the citizens group and was the first to announce Bianco’s planned ballot seizure.
In his short time in Shasta County, Curtis, whose claims about rigged voting machines stretch back to the early 2000s, has solidified his position as a torchbearer of the election denialism movement, vowing to take his message about untrustworthy machines and potential fraud across California and beyond.
Critics told The Times’ Hailey Branson-Potts that he has steadily disenfranchised voters in Shasta County. He has also eliminated nine of the county’s 13 ballot drop boxes, telling The Times that he did not trust ballots in the hands of “little old ladies running all over to collect them.”
Why is Bianco investigating now?
Political observers say the Riverside County sheriff — a leading gubernatorial candidate — appears to be vying for attention from President Trump and his supporters.
Trump has repeatedly called on the federal government to “nationalize” state-run elections. He also remains fixated on his 2020 election loss and has falsely claimed widespread fraud.
In January, the FBI raided the elections office in Georgia’s Fulton County, seizing 2020 presidential election records. And this month, the Republican leader of Arizona’s state Senate said he handed over 2020 election records to the FBI, complying with a federal grand jury subpoena for records related to a controversial audit of the election in Maricopa County.
Bianco has followed suit but claims the investigation is “not a recount” for Proposition 50 and has nothing to do with his campaign for governor.
What happens next
In a new lawsuit related to the case, Bonta said the situation “demands immediate judicial intervention” because Bianco has defied directives from his office — the state’s top law enforcement agency — and proceeded with an investigation that hasn’t properly identified “any particular crime that may have been committed.”
On Thursday, the UCLA Voting Rights Project also filed a petition requesting that the California Supreme Court require Bianco to return all seized ballots to the county’s registrar of voters office.
California law requires county officials to keep election materials — including ballots and voter identification envelopes — for 22 months for elections involving a federal office and for six months for all other contests.
The materials must be sealed and then destroyed at the end of the retention period.
The Proposition 50 election took place on Nov. 4, so the ballots are scheduled to be destroyed in May.
Today’s top stories 
Traffic moves along the 110 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
125 traffic cameras are coming to L.ABy the end of the summer, 125 cameras will be installed to crack down on speeders and traffic deaths.The fines will range from $50 to $500 depending on the extent to which motorists exceed the posted speed limit.A Latino voter shift could reshape the midtermsSupport for President Trump is at its lowest point ever, with recent polling showing him losing ground among Latino voters.Trump entered his second term buoyed by historic gains with Latino voters. Since then, his approval among the group has plummeted to 22%.Critics say Kaiser has strayed from its missionThe nonprofit’s charitable mission is under scrutiny as it earned $9.3 billion in profit last year while raising insurance premiums and facing staffing complaints.More than 30,000 Kaiser workers went on strike recently over staffing shortages and patient care delays, citing what they say is the company’s focus on profits over patient safety.What else is going onCommentary and opinionsThis morning’s must readOther must readsFor your downtime 
A selection from “There Have Been 528 Atmospheric Nuclear Tests to Date,” by elin o’Hara slavick.
(Chloe Shrager)
Going outStaying inA question for you: What are some of your favorite Easter recipes?
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally … your photo of the day 
People gather at a “No Kings” protest along Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach on Saturday.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Today’s photo is from Times photographer Genaro Molina at a Huntington Beach “No Kings” rally, which was part of a rolling wave of protests across America. Dozens were arrested Saturday after authorities fired tear gas at protesters in downtown L.A.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Jim Rainey, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com. Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on latimes.com.