The Ministry of Justice filed a lawsuit Fulton CountyGeorgia this week in an effort to obtain more five-year-old ballots tied to the 2020 presidential election, which President Donald Trump lost.
Eight-page complaint A Thursday filing in federal court in Atlanta names Fulton County Clerk of Courts Chae Alexander as a defendant, alleging the clerk violated the Civil Rights Act by failing to produce records related to the 2020 presidential election as required by state and federal officials.
The lawsuit asks the court to require the records to be produced within five days of the court's order.
According to the lawsuit, the Fulton County Registration and Elections Commission last month refused to comply with an Oct. 6 subpoena filed by the state board of elections for election records, including used and invalid ballots, ballot stubs and signature envelopes from the 2020 presidential election, saying in a Nov. 14 letter that the records were “sealed” under state law.
The suit says the board later failed to respond to an Oct. 30 letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi demanding records that she said were needed to review the state's compliance with federal election laws and state transparency efforts.
Alexander and the Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday evening.
Previously, in a letter to the state election commission dated Oct. 21, Alexander stated that “the records requested are under seal and cannot be produced without a court order,” the suit states.
Trump was accused on felony charges in Fulton County in August 2023 along with 18 others in connection with efforts to overturn his election defeat.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges that were fallen last month by a prosecutor who took the reins after Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis lost her authority to prosecute Trump in the case.
Georgia has long been a sore spot for Trump after a narrow 2020 loss that he disputed for years.
Following a manual recount of Georgia's election results that confirmed President Joe Biden's narrow victory in the state in 2020, Trump, then running for a second term, also called then-Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and implored him to “find” the votes needed to defeat Biden in the 2020 election. Since then, he has continued to falsely claim that he won the state.
The Fulton County lawsuit from the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division arrived Friday when it was announced that it was filed federal lawsuits against four states – Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts and Nevada – alleging that the states violated the Constitution by failing to provide statewide voter registration lists upon request.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, the report said. statement Friday, saying states “have a statutory duty to preserve and protect their voters from vote dilution.”
“In this Department of Justice, we will not allow states to compromise the integrity and efficiency of elections by refusing to comply with our federal election laws. If states fail in their responsibilities to protect the integrity of the ballot, we will,” Dillon said.
