DOJ Pushes Fulton County to Hand Over 2020 Election Records
Big win for election transparency volunteers in Georgia whose work is well-documented and virtually unassailable
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon’s October 30 letter from the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division to the Fulton County Board of Elections marks a hopeful step for a small group of Georgia citizens. It comes after years of efforts to obtain 2020 election records from state officials. Having supplied extensive documentation, they deserve answers. Giving Fulton County 15 days to comply, Dhillon writes:
“Present for inspection in its entirety and most original form, all records in [the possession of the Fulton County BOE] responsive to the recent subpoena issued to your office by the State Election Board.” The Civil Rights Division, says the letter, believes its request “is consistent with its ongoing obligations to ensure all citizens’ voting rights have been and are protected in all elections, as outlined in Title lll of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (CRA).” It “empowers the Attorney General to request preserved election records. (See 52 U.S.C § 20701, et seq. Section 303 of CRA.)”
Dhillon further asserts that the DOJ seeks to “ascertain Georgia’s compliance with various provisions of the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and the Help America Vote Act (HAVA), both federal regulations, citing Crook v. S.C. Election Commission. Dhillon also directly acknowledges the difficulties election integrity advocates in Georgia have repeatedly experienced in their attempts to obtain the records that are rightfully theirs to inspect:
“Transparency appears to have been frustrated at multiple turns in Georgia.” Dhillon writes, “The State Election Board has cited ‘unexplained anomalies in vote tabulation and storage relate to the 2020 election’ in a letter to you (Fulton County) dated November 7, 2024.” She goes on to acknowledge correspondence on August 1, 2025 “from voter transparency advocates, of multiple instances of government obstruction of transparency requests, including high-resolution ballot scans, signature verification documentation, and various metadata requests.”
Why did the DOJ intercede in Georgia?
Over the past four years, a small group of citizens has pursued an exhaustive review of the 2020 election, often with little recognition and frequent stonewalling. To say that they have been frustrated and ignored at every turn is a gross understatement. Despite their persistence, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger his General Counsel Charlene McGowan, have shown little interest in acting on the evidence being presented.
Their documentation, however, is substantial enough that SEB member Dr. Janice (Jan) Johnston moved to issue subpoenas for 2020 election records more than a year ago. With state-level cooperation stalled, the group elevated its findings to the DOJ this summer. Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon’s letter now signals federal willingness to intervene by directing Fulton County to produce the requested records—a notable step given that election administration is primarily a state function.
It all began with the Moncla-Rossi Complaint, or SEB 2023-025, filed on July 8, 2022. Kevin Moncla and Joe Rossi spent copious hours pouring over tabulator tapes, ballot images, system logs, and batch tally sheets to document irregularities in the 2020 election. Garland Favorito, founder of VoterGA, and longtime election integrity advocate, said SEB 2023-025 “is the most important complaint in Georgia SEB history.” His PowerPoint presentation provides a helpful examination of the issues at hand, for the uninitiated.
Moncla and Rossi’s investigation “shows undeniable proof of missing ballots, missing ballot images, meaningful gaps in chain of custody, and myriad other anomalies and errors that failed to comport with state laws,” according to a July 14, 2022 article I wrote after extensive interviews with Moncla. The piece delves into the evidence they found on Fulton County’s election and its recount. They argue the December 2020 recount was unlawfully certified.
To summarize 2023-025’s findings, Moncla and Rossi allege they and others identified “up to 58,924 ballots cast and counted that had no source justification.” In addition, other well-documented findings include:
20,713 ballots with certified votes that have no source tabulator.
17,852 ballots with certified votes that had no ballot images that are required for vote tabulation.
17,234 unsourced votes found for certification after reporting results with an even larger shortfall.
3,125 double-scanned and double-counted ballots
Johnston has also played a courageous and key role in this battle. In a quarterly meeting of the SEB on May 7, 2024, Johnston’s motion to refer SEB2023-025 to Georgia’s Attorney General was rebuffed due to a lack of votes. However, during the meeting Johnston made clear her concerns about the 2020 presidential election. She addressed clear violations of state laws, poor vote reconciliation, the pitfalls of voting machines, and the fact that the state continued to withhold physical ballots for review. “With over 140 violations of election laws and rules, it would be a travesty not to refer this to the Attorney General and let this ride,” Johnston said.
Johnston also noted that her requests for SHA files were ignored. She explained, “SHA files are part of the electronic record that should have been kept, according to SEB Rule 183 1-12-13.” Johnston added, “The ballot image is supposed to be accompanied by a SHA file which proves that the ballot image has not been tampered with. The SHA files are a part of the election record that should have been kept.” And when Johnston explained that 380,761 Election Day ballot images had allegedly been deleted, McGowan seemed surprised and then defensive.
After repeated attempts to secure state cooperation, the State Election Board voted 3–2 in late July 2025 to adopt a resolution formally asking the Trump DOJ to help obtain Fulton County’s subpoenaed records. Johnston introduced the measure, stressing that “the case is not closed.” Meanwhile, the same citizen volunteers who investigated the 2020 election wrote first to Rep. Barry Loudermilk and later to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene seeking assistance. In August–September 2025, they sent a voluminous dossier to Ed Martin and former West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner—now working at DOJ on the 2020 presidential election and the 2022 midterms—hoping to finally prompt production of the long-requested records. The DOJ’s Civil Rights Division has now determined it is time to intervene.
*This article was originally published on American Thinker on Nov. 5, 2025