Officials from Fulton County, Georgia, wanted to quash a subpoena from the Georgia State Board of Elections because providing “approximately 750 boxes” of material would be too burdensome.
Yet, when the FBI came knocking in a Jan. 28 raid, federal agents left with 656 boxes (653 by one count), prompting a top Georgia election official to wonder about the gap in the number.
“That’s almost 100 boxes of evidence,” Janice Johnston, vice chair of the Georgia State Election Board, told The Daily Signal.
She referenced one county affidavit that only estimated “over 700 boxes” at the county elections hub. She said, “Even 50 [extra] boxes would be a lot of evidence.”
In a post on X, Johnston posed the questions, “WHERE ARE 100 BOXES OF ELECTION DOCUMENTS?!! … WHO HAS THE BOXES?!!”
A rough estimate does not excuse such a large numerical disparity in an affidavit or court filings, Johnston said.
The State Election Board has since made a records request to the Fulton County Board of Elections to provide information about materials delivered or removed from storage in the four weeks preceding the FBI raid.
“Fulton County is effectively the person of interest in this case,” Johnston said. “We are not assured that everything was available.”
The FBI seized materials from the 2020 election that included ballots, tabulator tapes, and ballot images from a recount, Georgia Public Broadcasting reported, citing court documents that supported the search warrant. About 370,000 ballot images are missing, Johnston noted.
After the raid, Fulton County sued the Justice Department, calling for a return of the documents. The lawsuit also asked the court to prevent the FBI from reviewing the documents.
Johnston called the lawsuit “over the top.”
“They have been fighting the State Elections Board over the same documents,” Johnston said.
The Daily Signal sought comment from Fulton County Board of Elections Chairwoman Sherri Allen and Elections Director Nadine Williams. A Fulton County spokesperson responded to the inquiry.
“Fulton County complied fully with the search warrant executed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on January 28, 2026, seeking records related to the 2020 Election,” Fulton County spokeswoman Jessica Corbitt told The Daily Signal in an email.
“Agents spent more than 8 hours at the Fulton County Elections Hub and Operations Center and had the opportunity to review all files related to the 2020 Election,” Corbitt continued. “Agents were made aware of all 2020 documents and selected the files that they removed from the premises. This is now a matter that is being handled by the courts.”
An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on this story.
Fulton County, in a court filing in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, said 656 boxes were taken.
“The United States executed the Warrant later that day, seizing and removing approximately 656 boxes containing the original versions of 2020 election-related materials from the Fulton County Clerk of Superior Court,” the complaint filed on Feb. 5 says.
“Robert L. ‘Robb’ Pitts, Chairman of the Fulton County Board of Commissioners, and the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections respectfully request the return of all original seized materials and an order instructing the Respondent to maintain, but not review, any copies of the seized materials until this matter is resolved.”
That estimate of 656 boxes was smaller than a figure given in a petition to quash a November 2024 subpoena. That petition asserted that it would be an “unreasonable and oppressive substantive burden” to produce records on the 2020 election.
“The substantive request in the subpoenas would require a review of all materials retained from the 2020 election, which have been archived in approximately 750 boxes,” wrote Michael Tyler, a lawyer representing the county, in the Nov. 15, 2024, petition. “Petitioners estimate temporary staff of approximately 20 full-time people will need to be retained to review the documents.”
Then, on Feb. 4, 2025, Williams, the election director, provided a sworn affidavit and reduced the estimate for both boxes and staff time from the November response.
“Fulton County’s 2020 election materials are stored in over 700 boxes, each of which must be opened, searched, and sorted systematically to locate the majority of the documents requested in the subpoenas,” Williams said in the affidavit.
“The DRE [Department of Registration and Elections] does not have sufficient staff to conduct this search and make copies of the documents requested,” Williams added. “I estimate that we would need to hire 15 temporary staff members to work full time (40 hours a week), at approximately $26/hour, for a period of approximately 15 weeks to conduct the searching and copying necessary to comply with the subpoena.”
