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.
