A federal judge halted the Justice Department's effort to acquire personal information of hundreds of election workers and volunteers involved in the 2020 presidential election in Fulton County, Georgia. This move comes amid ongoing scrutiny into the election results fueled by allegations of fraud raised by former President Donald Trump.
The judge cited that the typical statute of limitations for election-related violations is five years, which is set to expire in 2025. This legal timing has complicated efforts by prosecutors who argue that the information could help in their investigation of the 2020 vote count.
Volunteers with the nonpartisan watchdog group VoterGA reported several irregularities in Georgia’s 2020 election. Their findings highlighted that on the morning after the vote, the then-Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger had acknowledged a significant lead for Trump with only a small percentage of votes left to count. Yet, vote counting was allowed to continue for several days, during which nearly 300,000 additional votes alleged to be “phantom votes” were added, a move the group contends affected the final outcome.
In response to the judge’s decision, VoterGA co-founder Garland Favorito promoted reforms aimed at improving election transparency. He advocated for hand-marked paper ballots and publicly recorded hand-counts to eliminate machine interference and verify vote accuracy.
The FBI, which earlier took possession of more than 600 boxes of voting records from Fulton County, declined to comment on the ruling. The Department of Justice’s subpoena followed a request by Dan Bishop, tasked with supervising nationwide election integrity investigations, aiming to contact election workers who might provide relevant information.
Since Trump’s return to the White House, he has pushed federal agencies to revisit the 2020 election and urged congressional Republicans to enact reforms geared toward safeguarding election integrity. The judge’s ruling marks a notable legal obstacle in these efforts as the DOJ continues its inquiries.