A newly unsealed federal affidavit has pulled back the curtain on the FBI’s decision to search the Fulton County Election Hub, revealing a criminal investigation into potential violations of federal election laws.
The document, signed by FBI Special Agent Hugh Raymond Evans, details a list of specific irregularities from the 2020 General Election that investigators believe may point to intentional misconduct rather than simple administrative errors.
The search warrant, executed at the Campbellton Fairburn Road facility, authorized agents to seize a massive trove of evidence. This includes all physical ballots—ranging from absentee to emergency ballots—as well as tabulator tapes, voter rolls, and digital ballot images produced during the original count and subsequent recounts.
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The Basis for Probable Cause
At the heart of the FBI’s inquiry are two federal statutes: Title 52, Section 20701, which mandates the preservation of election records for 22 months, and Section 20511, which prohibits the “knowingly and willful” deprivation of a fair election through the tabulation of fraudulent ballots.
The affidavit outlines several “deficiencies” that sparked the investigation:
- Missing Digital Footprints: Fulton County admitted it lacks scanned images for thousands of ballots from both the original count and the recount. Witness testimony included in the filing suggests that “Secure Hash Algorithm” (SHA) files—digital seals that prove an image hasn’t been altered—were missing from many records.
- The “Pristine” Ballot Mystery: Poll workers and monitors reported observing stacks of absentee ballots that appeared “too clean.” Unlike typical mail-in ballots, which must be folded to fit into envelopes, these “pristine” ballots allegedly showed no crease marks and featured perfectly filled-in bubbles that some witnesses claimed looked “stamped.”
- Tabulator Discrepancies: Cybersecurity experts and investigators flagged issues with tabulator tapes—the “receipts” printed by voting machines. The affidavit notes that tapes for over 315,000 ballots were not properly signed, and some machines appeared to have their internal clocks or “odometers” manipulated.
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Conflicting Interpretations
The affidavit highlights a divide between those who see these issues as evidence of a crime and those who view them as symptoms of a “sloppy” operation.
A report by Seven Hills Strategies, which monitored the county’s processes in 2020, described the absentee ballot chain of custody as “extremely sloppy” and “replete with issues.” However, both that report and a subsequent Performance Review Board concluded there was no evidence of “intentional misconduct” that would have altered the election’s outcome.
On the other side, witnesses like Dr. Janice Johnston of the State Election Board and various data analysts argued that the removal of digital files and the appearance of duplicate ballot images suggest a deliberate effort to make recount numbers match original totals.
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What Happens Next
Federal authorities are now tasked with reviewing the seized physical and electronic data to determine if these anomalies were the result of human error in a high-pressure environment or a coordinated effort to violate federal law.
The Fulton County Board of Registration and Elections had previously been ordered by a superior court to keep these records under seal. This federal intervention moves the materials into the hands of the FBI’s Public Corruption Squad for a full forensic audit.
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