NEW: DOJ Sues Blue Stronghold Over Voter Roll Access

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), through its Civil Rights Division, on Friday filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia against Fulton County Clerk of Superior Court Ché Alexander and county election officials. The suit seeks to compel the production of election records from the 2020 general election, including all used and void ballots, ballot stubs, signature envelopes, and corresponding digital files.

The lawsuit alleges that Fulton County violated the Civil Rights Act of 1960 by failing to comply with a federal subpoena issued in October 2025 and subsequent requests.

According to the DOJ, these records are necessary to investigate the county’s compliance with federal election laws, including record retention requirements. County officials had responded that the materials are under court seal from prior litigation and cannot be released without a court order.

The complaint further requests that a federal judge order the records to be produced within five days of any ruling.

“States have the statutory duty to preserve and protect their constituents from vote dilution. At this Department of Justice, we will not permit states to jeopardize the integrity and effectiveness of elections by refusing to abide by our federal elections laws,” said Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet K. Dhillon.

“If states will not fulfill their duty to protect the integrity of the ballot, we will.”

Fulton County officials, including Clerk Ché Alexander, had previously informed the DOJ in an October 21, 2025, letter that “the records sought are under seal and may not be produced absent a Court Order.” As of this report, Fulton County and the Georgia State Election Board have not issued public responses to the lawsuit.

The action follows a request from Georgia’s Republican-controlled State Election Board earlier in 2025 to reopen an investigation into 2020 election processes in Fulton County and seek federal assistance for access to records.

This lawsuit is also part of a broader Trump administration election integrity initiative. On the same day, the DOJ filed suits against four additional states — Colorado, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Nevada — for refusing to provide statewide voter registration lists, bringing the total to 18 states sued for similar voter data access under federal election laws.

These efforts involve sharing data with the Department of Homeland Security to verify voter eligibility.

Democrat leaders have pushed back on the request to provide open access to voter rolls, claiming doing so would be a violation.  “We will not hand over Coloradans’ sensitive voting information to Donald Trump. He does not have a legal right to the information. I will continue to protect our elections and democracy, and look forward to winning this case,” said Colorado Secretary of Stare Jena Griswold.

Kristin Nabers, state director for All Voting is Local Georgia, claimed the administration for being “obsessed” with investigating potential irregularities in the 2020 election

Nabers ranted that Trump is “attacking the very notion of free elections in this country, demanding to see ballots from Fulton County because their candidate didn’t win there half a decade ago.”

The 2020 ballots in Fulton County remain preserved beyond the standard 22-month retention period due to a prior court order related to election challenges. Georgia’s 2020 presidential results were certified on January 6, 2021 despite ongoing challenges from Trump and alternate electors.