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A legal firestorm erupted Monday as a Fulton County commissioner announced plans to challenge last week’s dramatic Fulton County FBI raid of elections hub, calling the federal search warrant improper and vowing to fight the seizure of sensitive 2020 election records.

Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. said county attorneys will file suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, contesting both the validity of the warrant and the scope of materials taken.

“I have asked the county attorney to take any and all steps available to fight this criminal search warrant,” Arrington said. While acknowledging that avenues exist to narrow the warrant’s reach, he added that the county will seek forensic accounting measures, request that the documents remain sealed within Georgia and take steps to safeguard voter information.

Boxes of Ballots Seized

On Jan. 28, 2026, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center in Union City. Agents removed hundreds of boxes containing ballots, voter rolls, ballot images and other records tied to the 2020 election.

Federal authorities secured the warehouse perimeter with yellow tape before loading boxes into trucks. FBI spokesperson Jenna Sellitto confirmed the seized materials included ballots. Among the items sought were original ballots, tabulator tapes from ballot scanners, electronic ballot images and voter rolls.

The U.S. Justice Department did not immediately comment.

County leaders publicly objected to the action while confirming they complied with the warrant as carried out. Arrington said that although a separate court order authorized agents to copy records, they instead took physical custody of original ballots — including in-person, absentee and provisional ballots — as well as voter rolls.

“They got copies of our voter rolls and all the original ballots,” Arrington said. He added that no chain-of-custody inventory was prepared at the time of seizure, leaving the county unable to confirm whether all materials have been returned.

Robb Pitts, chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, said the county had no prior notice of the FBI operation.

Political Undercurrents and Federal Scrutiny

One day after the raid, Pitts and Fulton County elections chair Sherri Allen maintained that the county’s election procedures are secure, fair and accurate. Both suggested that political retribution from the White House motivated the federal action.

A county spokesperson later said the search warrant related to “a number of records related to the 2020 election.”

The raid unfolds against a backdrop of intensifying federal and state scrutiny. Last month, the Justice Department sued Che Alexander, clerk of the Fulton County Superior and Magistrate Courts, seeking access to 2020 election records. The complaint said the department had requested documents but did not receive them. Its stated aim was “ascertaining Georgia’s compliance with various federal election laws.” Alexander has moved to dismiss the lawsuit.

Meanwhile, a conservative majority on the Georgia State Election Board has repeatedly sought to reopen investigations into alleged wrongdoing in Fulton County’s 2020 election conduct. In July, the board passed a resolution requesting assistance from the U.S. attorney general to obtain voting materials. The board issued subpoenas last year and again on Oct. 6, with litigation ongoing over enforcement of a 2024 subpoena.

Tabulator Tape Admission Resurfaces

The raid follows a December 2025 acknowledgment by Fulton County elections officials that they failed to properly sign tabulator tapes after the 2020 election, violating state regulations. Officials also conceded that some tapes and related documents had been misplaced.

County attorney Ann Brumbaugh disclosed the issues during a Dec. 9, 2025, State Elections Board meeting.

Tabulator tapes function like printed receipts from ballot-scanning machines, verifying that the number of ballots cast matches the number recorded. Georgia regulations require a poll manager and two witnesses to oversee and sign each tape during the verification process.

Echoes of a National Political Battle

Fulton County was central to former President Donald Trump’s claim that he won Georgia in 2020 — an election that saw Joe Biden become the first Democrat to carry the state, or any Deep South state, in a presidential contest since 1992.

In the aftermath, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis brought sweeping indictments against Trump and more than a dozen Republican allies, alleging a criminal conspiracy to overturn Georgia’s election results. The core of the case centered on a January 2021 phone call in which Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — now a GOP gubernatorial candidate — to “find” enough votes to reverse the outcome.

The prosecution later faltered after revelations of a romantic relationship between Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade, casting the case into political and judicial turmoil. Willis was ultimately removed from the prosecution. The case shifted to the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, which sought dismissal. On the eve of Thanksgiving, Fulton Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee granted the request, dropping the charges in full.

Now, with the Fulton County FBI raid of elections hub, the battle over Georgia’s 2020 election records has entered yet another chapter — one marked by sealed boxes, courtroom challenges and a renewed clash over the legacy of an election that continues to reverberate years later.