Georgia officials are not taking over Fulton County’s elections. For now.
WINDER — The FBI raid of Fulton County’s elections hub sparked fears that the Republican-controlled State Election Board would use it as a pretext to take over the heavily Democratic county’s elections.
Republicans didn’t shy away from the idea. In fact, state Sen. Greg Dolezal, who is running for lieutenant governor, urged the board to do so. President Donald Trump even amplified the idea in a Truth Social post.
But nothing materialized during the board’s meeting this week, its first since the Jan. 28 raid.
“It’s just not something that we’re looking to do without all the information,” State Election Board Member Janelle King told reporters. “When the FBI and the DOJ finish their investigation, that will give us a lot more information.”
Instead, the board voted Thursday to ask Fulton County officials to preserve the 2020 election documents, if or when the county retrieves them from the Trump administration.
Chair John Fervier, a Gov. Brian Kemp appointee, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution there is no justification for a state takeover based on 2020, saying Fulton “has made dramatic improvements since then, as evidenced by the 2022, 2024 and many other elections.”
The board also subpoenaed Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to attend its next meeting to explain what happened in a complaint accusing some people of possibly double voting in the county.
The board’s right-wing majority appears to have played a key role in the Justice Department’s decision to further investigate the county’s performance during the 2020 election.
King and fellow board member Janice Johnston have been among the most aggressive advocates for investigating the county. Trump once lauded them as “pit bulls.” And both were cited as witnesses in the Trump administration’s affidavit justifying the FBI’s seizure of hundreds of boxes of election materials.
“As far as the State Election Board goes, we hope the questions that have been asked for years may finally be answered,” Johnston said.
King said on Thursday she didn’t know that the raid was coming but that she “hoped for it.”
The other three board members — Chair John Fervier, Democrat Sara Tindall Ghazal and Republican Salleigh Grubbs — told the AJC they were not interviewed before the raid.
The board has been seeking those 2020 election materials for years through its own channels.
A 2024 subpoena for a slew of Fulton’s 2020 election records, including ballot images and tabulator tapes, specifies the documents should be handed to Johnston rather than the board’s chair. Those records are tied up in a superior court legal fight. It issued another subpoena in October last year for Fulton’s 2020 ballots.
A Fulton Superior Court judge recently ruled that the state board could obtain the election documents subpoenaed in 2024 but required the board to pay for the costs of retrieving the records.
Those documents are now part of a criminal investigation and out of reach.
“Instead of taking the time to make copies, the Bureau took the originals, leaving the County without the very ballots the SEB was attempting to review,” Fulton Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his order putting the case on hold. “This Court thus can no longer set measured and thoughtful parameters governing the handling and copying of these materials.”
The push for federal intervention began months ago. The board’s majority also voted last summer to seek Justice Department intervention in its quest to continue examining the county’s 2020 conduct.
It’s unclear who the Trump administration is targeting with its criminal probe. But the raid is the latest in Trump’s campaign to scrutinize the 2020 vote, which he long claimed, without evidence, was rife with fraud.
Although Fulton’s 2020 election issues are well-documented, investigators never proved any wrongdoing. State investigators have repeatedly ascribed the county’s problems to sloppiness and human error.
Meanwhile, the administration’s critics have called into question what will happen with the 2020 documents under federal control.
“The seizure of ballots and election materials from the Fulton County elections warehouse raises serious questions about voter privacy, transparency and whether proper procedures are being followed,” said Rachel Glover of the Georgia American Civil Liberties Union.
Faith leaders condemned the administration’s actions, saying there is no evidence to suggest there was malfeasance in Fulton’s 2020 election.
“Why five years later? Why Fulton County? I could only determine that the Trump administration and its embarrassment of a Department of Justice targeted Fulton County because it could care less about democracy,” said the Rev. Jay Augustine of Big Bethel A.M.E. Church in Atlanta.
About the Author
Caleb Groves is a general assignment reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's politics team and a Kennesaw State University graduate.
