Riverside County cited in election file released after President Trump’s primetime address  

RIVERSIDE, Calif. (KESQ)-- Riverside County is in the president’s election files.

The county is cited in a new Department of Homeland Security report on threats to voter registration systems, released after President Trump’s primetime address to the nation Thursday on election integrity.

The White House posted the documents online, calling them previously classified intelligence assessments that expose vulnerabilities in electronic voting.

During the address, the president said the files show “shocking vulnerabilities” in the nation’s election infrastructure. 

A White House official acknowledged the material does not allege any votes were switched or machines hacked, according to CBS News.

The Riverside County reference goes back a decade. 

The report cites District Attorney Mike Hestrin revealing that a bad actor used the state’s voter registration website to change the party affiliations of a large number of voters using their personal information, without their knowledge or consent.

The document dates it to July 2016. Hestrin publicly discussed the case in 2017, describing changes made ahead of the June 2016 primary. His office investigated after voters filed formal complaints, but the state’s system didn’t retain the IP addresses needed to trace who did it. No one was ever charged. The Secretary of State’s office at the time said there was no evidence the voter database itself was breached.

Hestrin also pushed back on separate accusations tied to the 2020 election, telling News Channel 3 in 2021 that claims of election interference were unfounded.

News Channel 3 has reached out to Hestrin’s office for an interview and comment.

The White House release lands as Riverside County sits at the center of another election battle. The California Supreme Court is weighing whether Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 600,000 ballots from the November 2025 special election was legal. The county Registrar says the discrepancy that sparked that investigation was 103 votes not the roughly 46,000 first claimed.

This is a developing story check back to news channel 3 for updates.