FBI Raids Fulton County Election Site

Yunji Choi, staff writer

In February 2026, the FBI carried out a highly unusual raid on the Fulton County Elections Hub in Georgia, seizing nearly 700 boxes of ballots and election records from the 2020 presidential election. The raid immediately drew national attention, not only because it targeted one of the largest voting counties in the United States, but also because it revived long debunked debates about election integrity. According to newly unsealed federal affidavits, the FBI said it was investigating whether “intentional acts” may have caused irregularities in Fulton County’s ballot processing more than five years ago. debunked debates about election integrity. According to newly unsealed federal affidavits, the FBI said it was investigating whether “intentional acts” may have caused irregularities in Fulton County’s ballot processing more than five years ago.  

The investigation began after a referral from Kurt Olsen, a former Trump campaign lawyer who was appointed as Director of Election Security and Integrity. Olsen has been widely associated with efforts to overturn the 2020 election, and many of the claims he pushed have already been rejected by courts, state officials, and bipartisan election boards. In the affidavit, the FBI listed several alleged issues: absentee ballots that appeared “pristine” with no fold marks, missing digital ballot images for thousands of votes, and cases where ballot images seemed to have been scanned more than once. Federal agents argued that these inconsistencies raised questions about whether federal election laws had been violated, including laws requiring counties to preserve records for 22 months and laws that ban fraudulent manipulation of vote totals.  

However, Fulton County officials strongly disputed the raid. Robb Pitts, chairman of the county’s Board of Commissioners, argued that the FBI acted with “callous disregard” for voters’ constitutional rights. He said that allowing the federal government to physically seize ballots long after certification could intimidate voters and undermine public confidence in the secrecy of their ballots. The county responded by suing the federal government to retrieve the seized records, saying the raid was unnecessary and harmful to trust in the election system.  

Many election experts also questioned the legality and timing of the investigation. Federal retention laws cited by the FBI had already expired in 2022, and the five-year statute of limitations for related criminal violations also appeared to have passed by 2025. In addition, state level investigations in Georgia had repeatedly found no evidence that irregularities in Fulton County affected the 2020 election results. The concerns listed in the affidavit closely matched claims previously promoted by election deniers, and these claims had already been labeled “baseless and repackaged” by Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger. The raid also sparked political controversy. Critics argued that high profile involvement, including the presence of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard at the scene, made the operation appear politically motivated, especially since many of the allegations were tied to conservative activists who had long insisted that the 2020 election was stolen. Supporters of the investigation claimed it was simply an effort to enforce federal law, while opponents viewed it as a renewed attempt to cast doubt on a settled election. In the end, the Fulton County raid highlighted how fragile public trust in elections remains. Even years after the 2020 vote, debates over election integrity continue to shape national politics. Whether the investigation will provide clarity, or only deepen divisions, remains uncertain.