Shirley Weber
Role at the time: California Secretary of State and real party in interest in Cervantes v. Bianco (through counsel)
Response to this claim
Elections Code section 15551(d) requires that voted ballots never be taken from the elections official's custody, so Sheriff Bianco violated it when he removed the Riverside County ballots from the Registrar of Voters, even under a search warrant.
“In the Secretary of State’s view, the legally required and proper course is an order directing Sheriff Bianco and his office to immediately return the seized ballots and election materials to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. … Sheriff Bianco violated Section 15551’s clear mandate when he removed voted ballots from the custody of the Riverside County Registrar of Voters. For that reason alone, the Court should issue an order compelling the return of those ballots and related materials to the proper custodian dictated by the Elections Code.”
The Secretary of State's brief filed in the California Supreme Court, stating her position that the seized ballots and election materials should be returned to the Riverside County Registrar of Voters.
Why we used this label
The reference point is the sheriff's seizure and handling of the ballots. Weber says Bianco violated the Elections Code's custody mandate and asks the court to compel the ballots' return, which expressly rejects the seizure as unlawful.