Riverside County, California - Chad Bianco, a California sheriff and the leading Republican candidate in the state's primary race for governor, recently seized over half a million ballots from a special election vote.

According to The LA Times, the Riverside County Sheriff had more than 650,000 ballots from the vote that took place last November for Proposition 50, which temporarily redrew the state's congressional districts to favor Democrats in response to partisan redistricting in Republican states.

In a recent X post, Bianco claimed that county logs show 611,428 ballots were cast, but 657,322 were certified, leaving "a 45,896-vote discrepancy in an election that could decide the balance of power in Congress."

"This investigation is simple: Physically count the ballots and compare that result with the total votes recorded," Bianco said during a press conference on Friday.

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The sheriff's claims have been refuted, and the ballot seizure has faced heavy criticism.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta described Bianco's investigation as "unprecedented in both scope and scale," and said it doesn't seem to be "based on facts or evidence" as countless recounts, audits, and court cases have proven there is "no indication, anywhere in the United States, of widespread voter fraud."

Bonta also sent a letter to Bianco earlier this month, threatening legal action over the seizure, warning that the move "sets a dangerous precedent and will only sow distrust in our elections."

Bianco is a hardcore supporter of President Donald Trump, who has aggressively pushed unfounded claims of rigged elections since he lost to former President Joe Biden in 2020.

Trump recently ordered the Department of Justice to seize ballots from the 2020 race from a polling station in Georgia, a state where multiple allies of his were prosecuted for allegedly attempting to overturn the election results.

With midterm elections coming up in November, many critics have suggested Trump may be seeking a way to "cancel" or manipulate the election somehow as Republicans may struggle to maintain their control of the House and Senate.