A federal judge rejected the Justice Department’s subpoena seeking names and personal contact information for Fulton County employees and poll workers involved in the 2020 election.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Justice Department from obtaining records identifying people who worked during the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia, ruling that the government’s subpoena was unreasonable.
U.S. District Judge William Ray, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, quashed the grand jury subpoena after Fulton County challenged the Justice Department’s request for names and personal contact information tied to county election workers and volunteer poll workers.
The Justice Department sought the records after previously issuing subpoenas for information on people involved in Fulton County’s 2020 election operations. Earlier this year, the FBI also raided the Fulton County election office.
The records sought by the Justice Department included people assigned to review mail-in ballots; members of the Voter Review Panel or Board; workers assigned to mobile voting locations; individuals who transferred results to or from media or transported ballots, ballot stock or media; people employed or contracted by the Fulton Board of Registrations and Elections; workers or volunteers involved in the risk-limiting audit; workers or volunteers involved in the recount; and precinct managers and assistant managers.
Fulton County asked the court to block the subpoena, arguing that it was intended to “target, harass and punish the President’s perceived political opponents” and was “grossly over broad and untethered to any reasonable need,” according to the Associated Press.
“The U.S. Department of Justice cannot have the names and personal contact information for every person who worked during the 2020 election in Georgia’s Fulton County, a federal judge ruled Tuesday,” the Associated Press reported.
The Justice Department obtained the grand jury subpoena in April. The AP reported that the subpoena sought personal information for county employees and volunteer poll workers.
Trump has long claimed that voter fraud in Fulton County, Georgia’s most populous county and a Democratic stronghold, affected the 2020 election outcome in the state, the AP reported.
Ray concluded that the Justice Department had not shown enough need for the information to justify the burden created by the subpoena.
“Given the low need for the subpoenaed information and the highly burdensome nature of the disclosure of the same, the Subpoena is unreasonable and must be quashed,” Ray wrote in his ruling.
The decision prevents the Justice Department from obtaining the requested Fulton County election worker information through the subpoena.
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