Fulton County in Georgia Challenges the F.B.I.’s Seizure of 2020 Ballots
"The county filed a motion demanding the return of ballots and other election materials that were seized by the F.B.I. in a highly unusual move by the Trump administration.
Fulton County in Georgia took legal action on Wednesday demanding that the federal government return ballots and other election materials from the 2020 presidential contest that the F.B.I. seized last week.
The motion was filed under seal in federal court in Georgia, according to Jessica Corbitt, a spokeswoman for Fulton County. The motion also seeks the unsealing of the affidavit that was filed in support of the search warrant that allowed F.B.I. agents to conduct an extraordinary search of the county’s election headquarters.
At a news conference on Wednesday morning, Robb Pitts, the chair of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, cast the legal action as a means of upholding the Constitution, as well as the rights of Fulton County voters.
“We will fight using all resources against those who seek to take over our elections,” he said. “Our Constitution itself is at stake in this fight.”
The move follows a chaotic week in Fulton County, which includes much of Atlanta and is Georgia’s most populous county, after F.B.I. agents conducted an extraordinary search and took away pallets of ballots and other materials.
Local officials were particularly alarmed and confused by the presence of Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, whose agency’s involvement in elections traditionally pertains only to foreign influence. The day after the search, she met with some of the agents who had participated and called Mr. Trump on her cellphone, The New York Times reported on Monday. After initially not picking up, he called back and spoke to them on speakerphone, asking them questions and praising and thanking them, according to three people with knowledge of the meeting.
Mr. Trump has continued to argue falsely that his 2020 election defeat was rigged, and members of his administration have made apparent efforts to search for evidence of widespread fraud in that year’s contest even though none has ever been found.
In a podcast interview released on Monday, Mr. Trump said that he wanted the Republican Party to “nationalize” voting in the United States, an aggressive rhetorical step that signaled a desire to involve his administration in election matters. During the interview with Dan Bongino, his former deputy F.B.I. director and a podcaster, Mr. Trump also called for Republican officials to “take over” voting procedures in 15 states, though he did not name them.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump doubled down on his call to nationalize voting even as the White House and top Republicans tried to walk it back.
Democrats, election officials and voting rights experts have expressed worries about the developments and warned that the Trump administration might be laying the groundwork to intervene or cast doubt on this year’s midterm elections. The Constitution grants states the power to run elections, and Congress the ability to pass federal election laws, but the executive branch has no explicit authority over elections.
The scene in Fulton County last week, on a cold, cloudless, late Wednesday afternoon, was strange and tense. Legal observers from the American Civil Liberties Union stood around near the entrance, which was mobbed with reporters and news cameras. The news media was not allowed into the building, while government officials and F.B.I. agents came and went.
Three white box trucks were parked at a back entrance as evidence was rolled out. Officials in Fulton County said that more than 20 pallets of ballots, election tape and equipment had been seized, though they do not have a full inventory from the Justice Department.
“We don’t even have copies of what they took, so it’s a problem,” Mr. Pitts said at the news conference on Wednesday. He said the county wanted the documents back “so we can take an inventory” of what documents and materials were taken.
“We don’t know where they are. We don’t know really, who has them,” he said. We don’t know what they’re doing with them. Are they being tampered with? I can use my imagination, and I would certainly hope not. But we just — we don’t know.”
He noted that Mr. Trump, in his comments about nationalizing elections, suggested that Republicans should “take over” the elections process “in at least many — 15 places.”
Mr. Pitts said Fulton was the “epicenter” of this fight. “We’ll be the test case,” he said. “If they’re successful in Georgia — Fulton County, Georgia in particular — the others on that list of 15 plus states, they should be aware.”
The Fulton County search, he said, was “probably the first step in whatever they’re going to do in order to depress voter participation, voter registration, making whatever changes they think are necessary to help their case in 2026, but more importantly, in 2028.”
Nick Corasaniti is a Times reporter covering national politics, with a focus on voting and elections.
Richard Fausset, a Times reporter based in Atlanta, writes about the American South, focusing on politics, culture, race, poverty and criminal justice."
