Trump administration sues Georgia county for 2020 ballot records

As Donald Trump continues to claim that the presidential election was stolen from him, the Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against a Georgia county seeking access to 2020 voting records.

The justice department lawsuit demands the state turn over “all used and invalid ballots, all ballot stubs, signature envelopes, and associated envelope digital files from the 2020 General Election in Fulton County.”

The government accused the county of violating the Civil Rights Act after local officials said the ballots were sealed and could not be submitted without a court order.

Trump narrowly lost the state of Georgia to Joe Biden in 2020; this was one of many losses that cost the White House.

Accordingly caseThe Justice Department in October issued a subpoena to Fulton County election officials requesting ballot materials, citing the need to investigate “compliance with federal election law.”

In a statement Friday, Deputy Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said states must protect against “vote dilution.”

“At the Department of Justice, we will not allow states to jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections by refusing to comply with our federal election laws,” he said. “If states will not fulfill their duty to protect the integrity of the ballot, so will we.”

The district did not immediately return requests for comment.

After losing the 2020 election to Biden, Trump claimed widespread fraud. Lots of courts He rejected legal challenges brought by his campaigns and their allies.

Georgia, particularly Fulton County and the greater Atlanta area, has become the focus of Trump’s challenges to the 2020 election results.

after the electionTrump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and he told her, “I want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we got. Because we won the state.”

Raffensperger, whose office oversees elections in Georgia and certifies the results. Confirmed Biden won the state even after multiple reviews.

His office declined to comment on the justice department’s case.

Trump was later criminally charged in Fulton County in connection with a plot to overturn the state’s election results.

Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis filed an unsuccessful racketeering case against him He claims he led a criminal conspiracy to undermine Georgia’s election results. Trump pleaded not guilty to the charges in August 2023.

A judge dismissed the case earlier this monthHe shelved the case after a series of procedural coups blocked the prosecution and Trump returned to the White House in 2025.

The Georgia election interference case was once seen as the most threatening of Trump’s four criminal charges because he would not be able to pardon himself from state-level charges if he returned to office.