Republican Riverside County Sheriff, Richard Bianco, is running for California governor and has promised to investigate allegations of local fraud in the Nov. 4 statewide special election. The third-party election activist group alleges that 45,896 ballots are off by 45,000. However, Riverside County Registrar Art Tinoco denies this claim, stating that he believes the group used unaudited raw data in its calculations, rather than verified "good ballots" as their identification. The sheriff's office began serving search warrants at the Riverside County Registry of Voters' office on Feb. 9 and seized election materials and ballots. A court-appointed special master has been appointed to oversee the investigation. Critics argue that the sheriff's actions risk undermining public confidence in elections and could impact future voter turnout.