The U.S. Department of Justice has asked Fulton County, Georgia, for the identities and personal contact details of people who worked the 2020 election, setting up a legal battle over a grand jury subpoena filed as Democrats and Republicans continue to fight over how the federal government handles election records and sensitive data, according to a court motion by Fulton County lawyers.
Fulton County filed the motion to quash the subpoena on Monday night, arguing that the request seeks information that goes well beyond what is needed for any legitimate inquiry. The subpoena, Fulton County said, is directed at county employees and volunteer poll workers who handled roles ranging from in-person election-day assistance to work connected to a mobile voting location, and it calls for residential and email addresses as well as personal telephone numbers.
The county’s motion said the subpoena is meant to “target, harass and punish the President’s perceived political opponents.” Fulton County lawyers also told the court that the subpoena is “grossly overbroad and untethered to any reasonable need,” and they argued it “cannot yield any evidence that could result in a criminal prosecution” because the statute of limitations on any federal crime related to the 2020 election has already expired.
The dispute comes after the FBI earlier this year went to a Fulton County elections warehouse and seized ballots and other documents from the 2020 election. The AP article said Georgia’s certified results showed President Donald Trump lost the state to Joe Biden by 11,779 votes out of nearly 5 million cast, while Trump continued to insist the election was stolen from him despite judges and his own attorney general concluding otherwise.
County Board of Commissioners Chairman Robb Pitts said Fulton County viewed the subpoena as federal overreach. In an emailed statement, Pitts called it “yet another act of outrageous federal overreach designed to intimidate and chill participation in elections,” adding, “Let me be crystal clear. Fulton County will not be intimidated,” while he runs for reelection.
Fulton County’s motion also argued the subpoena threatened election workers’ safety in a political climate that has already targeted individuals connected to the 2020 election. The filing pointed to Trump’s targeting of individual poll workers, including Ruby Freeman, who has said she was forced to flee her home after false claims of election fraud against her led to racist threats and strangers showing up at her home.
The court filing described how the subpoena reached Fulton County: the subpoena was dated April 17 and served on the county’s director of elections on April 20. The motion said the subpoena requires Fulton County to provide the requested records not to the grand jury itself, but to an out-of-state Justice Department lawyer or to the FBI agent who wrote the affidavit used for the January seizure of Fulton County’s 2020 ballots and related records.
Fulton County argued the subpoena represents a “chilling escalation” that could worsen risks for election staff and volunteers. The motion said election workers fear for their physical safety and that other stresses— including the “likelihood of being scapegoated by public officials”—are causing election workers to leave their jobs “in unprecedented numbers.”
The AP report said the Justice Department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Tuesday. It also said the Justice Department’s efforts to obtain election-related data have extended beyond Georgia, including an FBI subpoena-driven effort related to Maricopa County’s 2020 presidential election audit in Arizona and Justice Department demands for ballot records in Michigan connected to the 2024 election, which Trump won against Biden’s running mate, Kamala Harris.