(The Center Square) – A federal judge in Georgia delayed a planned Friday hearing in the case involving the raid of the Fulton County Elections Board and ordered the parties to mediate.
The FBI raided the Election Board offices on Jan. 28, taking more than 600 boxes of ballots, tabulator tapes and other election-related material.
“These documents discuss an ongoing criminal investigation that is neither public nor known to all of the targets of the investigation,” FBI special agent Hugh Raymond Evans said in the warrant.
Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts and the elections board sued the Department of Justice for the return of the records. A hearing was scheduled for Friday.
U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee cancelled the hearing and gave the parties until March 4 to agree on a mediator, or the court would appoint one. The two sides must report back to the judge by March 18.
Some have applauded the FBI investigation, including members of the Georgia State Election Board. Salleigh Grubbs, the newest member of the board, said for her, it was not about the 2020 election but what has happened since then.
The board subpoenaed the Fulton County Elections Board for the records, but never got them. Grubbs said she was glad to see the FBI raid and wondered why Fulton County was fighting to get the records back.
“It makes me think, ‘What else is there they didn’t want the public to know,'” Grubbs said at the Feb. 19 board meeting. “And unfortunately, we don’t have an answer to that at this point and time.”
The raid on the Fulton County Elections Office is unprecedented, said David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan, nonprofit Center for Election Innovation & Research.
“It’s frankly surprising that a magistrate granted the warrant given how flimsy the affidavit was, relying upon conspiracy theories that have been debunked in court and through multiple reviews years and years,” Becker said in an interview with The Center Square. “In addition, the affidavit omitted facts that the magistrate might have found useful, like the fact that these theories have been debunked or the fact that there was a five-year statute of limitations that has expired.”
Fulton County questioned whether some facts were omitted and if the Justice Department considered the statute of limitations.
“Without citing authority, Respondent speculates that ‘subsequent criminal acts’ or ‘acts in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy, would restart the limitations period,’” Fulton County’s attorneys said in court documents. “What acts? Which conspiracy statute? This is speculation at its most extreme.”
Georgia state Sen. Greg Dolezal, who is running for lieutenant governor, said in a social media post that the state should take over Fulton County elections.
“Fulton County is failing the basic test,” Dolezal said. “A state takeover is no longer controversial – it’s necessary.”
The State Election Board did not move to take over Fulton County’s elections at its meeting last week. The board doesn’t meet again until March 18.
Questions about Georgia’s 2020 election results are not limited to local and state officials. President Donald Trump has consistently questioned the election results not just in Georgia, but in other states where he lost the electoral college votes.
Biden defeated Trump 306-232 in electoral college votes; Georgia contributed 16 to the Democrats’ win, not enough of a swing (32 points) to reverse the 74-point setback. Recounts did not find enough evidence to overturn the results.
Trump shared an all-caps post recently from Jan Johnston, a member of the Georgia State Election Board, that said the records should not be returned to Fulton County until they were “copied, reviewed and investigated.”
Georgia’s elections have proven to be secure, accurate and verifiable, Becker said.
“Georgia’s elections have been scrutinized as much as any elections in national and world history,” Becker said. “The 2020 election in Georgia had the ballots counted three times, three different ways, once entirely by hand, all under the supervision of the candidates and the parties. We know who won those elections. It’s very clear and yet conspiracy theories continue to remain.”
