Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s unprecedented seizure of 650,000 local voters’ ballots earlier this year just inspired a new law to stop him from doing it again.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Bianco-inspired legislation on Wednesday, during a news conference his office billed as an act to safeguard California’s elections from threats both inside and outside the state. The emergency legislation takes effect immediately, six days before millions of California voters decide whether they want Bianco, a Republican who is also running for governor, or another candidate to succeed Newsom.
The governor refused to mention Bianco by name, referring to him as “a former member of the Oath Keepers,” the far-right militia that Bianco recently said he was proud to have been a dues-paying member of…