Judge denies request to force FBI to return seized 2020 Fulton County ballots

A federal judge on Wednesday denied a request from Fulton County officials to force the FBI to return hundreds of boxes of ballots from the 2020 election that were seized earlier this year.

"The seizure in this case was certainly not perfect," Judge J. P. Boulee wrote. "However ... petitioners did not establish that their rights were callously disregarded either through the lack of probable cause, omissions in the Affidavit or by the manner of the execution of the seizure."

The FBI seized more than 600 boxes of Fulton County's election records in January as part of an investigation driven by allies of President Donald Trump who sought to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election.

While the judge acknowledged that the events leading up to the FBI's seizure of Fulton County's 2020 ballots were "unprecedented," he concluded that the county officials did not meet the high legal bar needed to force authorities to return the evidence during the ongoing investigation.

In a 68-page ruling, Boulee, a Trump appointee, shot down most of the arguments posed by Fulton County, rejecting the claims that the search warrant affidavit was "woefully deficient" or that the agent who authored it was "reckless."

"It seems to the Court that [Special Agent] Evans presented the Magistrate Judge with facts that both hurt and helped him. While the Affidavit was certainly far from perfect, this is not a situation where an officer left out all the facts that might undermine probable cause or where an officer intentionally lied," Boulee wrote.

The judge did take issue with some aspects of the affidavit -- writing that it "was defective in some respects" and contained statements that were "troubling."

"Again, the Court agrees with Petitioners that such features within the Affidavit are problematic. Nevertheless, the Court is cognizant that its task is to assess whether Respondent callously disregarded Petitioners' rights," he wrote.

Ultimately, the judge said Fulton County officials could not demonstrate that their rights were "callously disregarded" or that they would be irreparably harmed if the 600 boxes of ballots were not returned. He added that Fulton County officials "presented no evidence that the election materials were manipulated, misused or publicly disclosed" or that "that the secrecy of the ballot has been compromised by the seizure."

In a statement released Wednesday evening, Fulton County Commission Chairman Robb Pitts said he "strongly" disagrees with the court's ruling and vowed to "vigorously pursue all available legal options."

While Fulton County's motion was denied, Pitts said: "Our fight has exposed the flawed affidavit and suspicious timeline of federal actions. We will continue, as always, to stand by our election workers and the voters of Fulton County."

Fulton County officials sued in February seeking the return of the ballots.

Trump has repeatedly made baseless claims that there was voter fraud in the 2020 election, specifically in Georgia, that contributed to his election loss. Georgia officials audited and certified the results following the election, and numerous lawsuits challenging the election results in the state were rejected by the courts.