A judge has cleared the way for the Georgia State Election Board to obtain Fulton County ballots and other documents from the 2020 election.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney on Friday ruled that the election board is well within its authority to request the information it has sought for more than a year. He ordered the county to provide an itemized estimate of the cost of complying with the subpoenas.
The ruling is a victory for the election board’s right-wing majority, which last year reopened an investigation into Fulton County’s conduct of the 2020 election. President Donald Trump and his supporters have long contended the election was rife with fraud.
Two recounts, including a hand count of every ballot, confirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 victory. Numerous investigations found plenty of problems but no intentional misconduct by the county.
Members of the State Election Board and Fulton County officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
McBurney’s ruling is the latest twist in the election board’s long scrutiny of the county’s election performance. Last year, the board reprimanded the county after finding it likely that election workers had scanned more than 3,000 ballots twice during the 2020 recount.
The investigation was unable to confirm the ballots were actually counted twice.
The board ordered an independent monitor to observe the county’s 2024 election performance to settle the case. But a new right-wing majority later reopened its investigation and subpoenaed ballots and troves of other documents on Election Day last year.
Fulton County sought to quash the subpoenas, arguing they were unreasonably broad and related to an investigation that had already been closed.
Friday, McBurney wrote it wasn’t clear the board’s original investigation was concluded. And he wrote the board has the authority to open new investigations anyway.
“As stale and ill-timed as these requests might seem to the casual observer, they were nonetheless inquiries that fell squarely within the SEB’s (State Election Board’s) authority,” McBurney wrote.
The judge ruled the election board must pay for the ballots and other documents it seeks. Fulton County has estimated it will cost nearly $400,000 to comply with the subpoena. McBurney ordered the county to produce a detailed cost breakdown by Jan. 7.
The pursuit of Fulton’s 2020 ballots has become something of a Holy Grail for those who believe the election was stolen.
A lawsuit filed in December 2020 seeking the ballots is still pending in McBurney’s court. And earlier this month the U.S. Department of Justice filed its own lawsuit seeking the ballots.
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