The Justice Department has issued a grand jury subpoena demanding the names, addresses, and contact information of election workers and volunteers who staffed Fulton County's polling places during the 2020 presidential election, court filings show.
The subpoena, filed in April, targets the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections. The demand became public Monday after county officials moved to have a judge invalidate it.
Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts called the action "outrageous federal overreach" designed to silence election workers. "The federal government once again is attempting to misuse criminal process," Pitts said in a statement. "This harassment should not be allowed, so we have asked the Court to act. I will always stand up for our elections workers and for the truth."
The county's legal filing characterizes the subpoena as part of a pattern targeting "the President's perceived political enemies," specifically naming election officials, poll workers, and volunteers in Fulton County. The board argues that former President Donald Trump has repeatedly disparaged these workers while promoting his false claim that they stole the 2020 election.
The county board outlined multiple reasons for quashing the subpoena in its court motion. The filing asserts that the request is "unprecedented and harassing," would affect thousands of workers and volunteers, and serves no legitimate investigative purpose. County lawyers also argued that any statutes of limitation for alleged 2020 election crimes have already expired, meaning the subpoena cannot possibly lead to criminal charges.
The motion also raises constitutional concerns, stating that the subpoena would violate the First Amendment rights of election workers by chilling their future participation in elections. The filing further contends that the demand violates Georgia's authority to administer its own elections.
The subpoena represents a widened Justice Department investigation into the 2020 election, an issue Trump has continued to champion since losing Georgia to Joe Biden. In the weeks after the election, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and asked him to "find 11,780 votes" to reverse Biden's victory in the state.
Fulton County has become a flashpoint in federal election investigations. The county was the geographic center of Georgia's failed election interference case against Trump and his co-defendants. That case was dropped after District Attorney Fani Willis was disqualified over conflict of interest allegations, and the prosecutor who succeeded her dismissed all charges.
The county also challenged the Justice Department in federal court after the FBI conducted a search at a Fulton County elections facility earlier this year. That operation drew sharp criticism from Democratic officials, and the county sued in February, questioning the legality of the search warrant and demanding the return of seized records.
Author Sarah Mitchell: "The timing and scope of this subpoena will only deepen suspicions that the Justice Department is chasing ghosts to appease Trump's base rather than pursuing genuine wrongdoing."
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