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  "description": "The March 19 warrant asked for a search of all the ballots seized in the election, in order to get around the Attorney General's request to pause the recount. ",
  "path": "/read-the-search-warrants-that-lead-the-seizure-of-your-ballot/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-08T22:34:52.000Z",
  "site": "https://ielaw.news",
  "tags": [
    "Riv. Sheriff’s election investigation paused, warrants unsealed“To permit further consideration of the petition for review, real parties, their agents, employees, and anyone acting on their behalf are hereby ordered to pause the investigation into the November 2025 special election and preserve all seized items,” the Supreme Court wrote.Inland Empire Law WeeklyAidan McGloin",
    "first reported last week",
    "reported",
    "feb9warrantfeb9warrant.pdf346 KBdownload-circle",
    "feb23warrantfeb23warrant.pdf496 KBdownload-circle",
    "march19warrantmarch19warrant.pdf562 KBdownload-circle"
  ],
  "textContent": "The affidavits for the three warrants used to seize or count Riverside County ballots for the 2025 special redistricting election are now public.\n\nInland Empire Law Weekly is republishing them in full.\n\nAll warrants were filed by Riverside Sheriff's Investigator Robert Castellanos, and signed by Riverside Superior Judge Jay Kiel.\n\nRiv. Sheriff’s election investigation paused, warrants unsealed“To permit further consideration of the petition for review, real parties, their agents, employees, and anyone acting on their behalf are hereby ordered to pause the investigation into the November 2025 special election and preserve all seized items,” the Supreme Court wrote.Inland Empire Law WeeklyAidan McGloin\n\n### March 6, 2024 warrant\n\nIncluded in the probable cause statement for the Feb. 9 warrant is the probable cause statement for a March 6, 2024 warrant signed by Riverside Superior Judge Samuel Diaz. The statement does not identify what the warrant authorized the investigator to do.\n\nThat statement said the Castellanos had spoken with the late Yvette Anthony, who was the vice president of election integrity for the Murrieta Temecula Republican Assembly. Anthony requested the United States Postal Service's charges to the Registrar of Voters, identified the charges for two-ounce deliveries as being for two-page ballots, and counted 216,877 two-ounce charges. She concluded that the Registrar of Voters received 216,877 ballots through the mail during the June 2022 primary election, which falls short of the 252,661 ballots the Registrar said it received through mail.\n\nAlso included in the probable cause statement is a summary of the interview with then-Registrar of Voters Rebecca Spencer, which Inland Empire Law Weekly first reported last week.\n\n### February 9 warrant\n\nThe Feb. 9 warrant ask for all ballots from the 2025 special election, included disqualified ballots. The warrant also asked for the voter registration roll, a request that was struck out by pen.\n\nBeyond the recount of the 2024 probable cause statement, the Feb. 9 warrant cited interviews with Greg Langworthy of the Riverside Election Integrity Team (REIT). REIT claimed multiple instances of inconsistent ballot counting.\n\n\"According to the ROV (Registrar of Voters), 657,322 ballots were cast in the 2025 Prop 50 special election. According to the REIT audit, 627,802 ballots were cast and 16,376 were rejected by the ROV for a total of 611,426 a difference of 45,896,\" the probable cause statement reads.\n\nIt also said that Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco had not given an explanation for the discrepancy, but that the Board of Supervisors will talk with Tinoco the next day in a public meeting. Tinoco presented data that showed 657,219 ballots were cast, The Riverside Record reported.\n\nCastellanos asked to seize the ballots before they were set to be destroyed this month.\n\nfeb9warrantfeb9warrant.pdf346 KBdownload-circle\n\n### February 23 warrant\n\nThe February 2023 warrant again cited REIT's audit of the ballots conducted by the Registrar. The probable cause statement included a copy-and-paste of the paragraph from the Feb. 9 statement, including the claim that Tinoco had not responded to REIT's claims, and that the Feb. 10 meeting, which had already happened by Feb. 23, was scheduled.\n\nIn this request, Castellanos asked for all 150 pallets of material related to the November election. The prior search warrant, he wrote, only resulted in the ballots being seized.\n\nfeb23warrantfeb23warrant.pdf496 KBdownload-circle\n\n### March 19 warrant\n\nThe March 19 warrant asked for a search of all the ballots seized in the election, in order to get around the Attorney General's request to pause the recount.\n\n\"The California Attorney General's Office sent Sheriff Bianco letters that directed/requested a pause in this investigation citing they have supervisory authority under article V, section 13 of the California Constitution and section 12560 of the Government Code.\n\n\"Due to the timeframe regarding the law requiring the ballots be destroyed, the directive/request from the California Attorney General, and the large discrepancy between the numbers from the REIT and the official ROV count, I am requesting (the recount be done under the authority of Riverside Superior Court and an appointed attorney).\"\n\nThe probable cause statement said Castellanos counted 22 boxes on March 5, totaling \"at most 12,561\" ballots.\n\nIt also summarized Tinoco's statements at the Feb. 10 meeting.\n\nmarch19warrantmarch19warrant.pdf562 KBdownload-circle",
  "title": "Read the search warrants for Riversiders' ballots",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-08T22:34:53.680Z"
}