FBI raids Fulton County elections warehouse seeking 2020 ballots

ATLANTA — Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the Fulton County elections warehouse Wednesday.  A court order signed by Magistrate Judge Catherine M. Salinas authorized agents to seize all physical ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton County, all ballot images and Fulton County’s 2020 voter rolls. A copy of the order was […]

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents carried out a raid Wednesday at the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center is located in Union City, Georgia. Ross Williams/Georgia Recorder

ATLANTA — Officials from the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the Fulton County elections warehouse Wednesday. 

A court order signed by Magistrate Judge Catherine M. Salinas authorized agents to seize all physical ballots from the 2020 election in Fulton County, all ballot images and Fulton County’s 2020 voter rolls. A copy of the order was given to the Recorder by a House lawmaker.

“We are aware of the ongoing law enforcement activity involving the FBI at the Fulton County warehouse,” said Cae’Lenthya Moore, the executive assistant to Fulton County Clerk Ché Alexander. “At this time, we are only aware of activities involving the warehouse location.”

Officials at the FBI’s field office in Atlanta did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. 

The Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center is located in Union City, just south of Atlanta. The county, which is home to much of the city of Atlanta, was also at the center of President Donald Trump’s baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen in Georgia and other swing states.

Fulton County was also where Trump was indicted in 2023 following his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.

Fulton County Elections Board Chair Sherri Allen told reporters that “Fulton County Department of Registration and Elections has always, and will continue to maintain fair, transparent and accurate elections.” 

“We have fully complied,” she added. “We will always comply with law enforcement and with the rule of law.”

Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts said he has not been told where the ballots will be taken upon leaving the warehouse, and that he can no longer guarantee they will remain safe and secure. Audits of the 2020 election in Fulton County, he added, have repeatedly been found to be accurate.

“That election has been reviewed, it’s been audited, and in every case, every instance, we get a clean bill of health,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly blamed his 2020 loss on unfounded accusations of rampant voting fraud, even though two recounts affirmed former President Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia. Last week, in a speech before the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trump once again claimed that the 2020 election was rigged and said that the individuals involved “will soon be prosecuted for what they did.”

State Rep. Saira Draper, an Atlanta Democrat and voting rights attorney who showed up to the scene of the raid, said the raid was “an assault on our democracy,” and an attempt to target a Democratic stronghold in Georgia.

“This is certainly an attempt to sow chaos, it is an attempt to undermine confidence in our elections,” she said. “It’s focused on Fulton County, because this is where the Democratic voters are.”

The Carter Center, which helps monitor elections across the U.S. as well as in countries like Venezuela, Sierra Leone and Nepal, said the raid “appears to be yet another attempt to sow doubt in election integrity and undermine voter confidence during a consequential election year.”

Trump’s Justice Department sues Fulton County to force release of 2020 ballot documents

In December, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Fulton County for refusing to turn over voter records from the 2020 election. Alexander, the county clerk, previously denied Justice Department officials’ request for the data according to the lawsuit, stating that the records were under seal and could not be released without a court order. She later filed a motion to dismiss the complaint.

The Justice Department has also filed its most recent lawsuit seeking Georgia’s unredacted voter data against Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger last week. Officials from the secretary of state’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the raid.

Georgia’s political ecosystem, however, was quick to react. In a statement, Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon celebrated the FBI’s raid, saying that it was “long overdue.”

“Georgians have waited years for real answers about what happened in 2020,” McKoon said. “Getting every detail out, especially around ballot handling and processes in Fulton, is absolutely critical.”

But Charlie Bailey, chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, criticized the move.

“Every Georgian should be alarmed that Donald Trump is wielding federal law enforcement to push his baseless, dangerous lies about winning the 2020 election,” Bailey said in a statement, adding that “we will not be intimidated by a fragile bully who has been proven wrong by independent reviews time and time again.”

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, who is up for re-election in November, also criticized the raid, calling it a “sore loser’s crusade.”

“From Minnesota to Georgia, on display to the whole world is a President spiraling out of control, wielding federal law enforcement as an unaccountable instrument of personal power and revenge,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, who is running for Senate on the Republican side, put out a statement on social media, saying “Georgians are about to get some long-overdue answers and learn just how right President Trump was in 2020.”

U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, another Republican Senate candidate, also issued a succinct statement directed at FBI Director Kash Patel.

“Go get ‘em, Kash,” he wrote.

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