Federal Seizure of Ballots Demands Immediate Oversight

On Wednesday, the FBI executed a search warrant at the Fulton County, Georgia Elections Operations Center and seized ballots and other materials from the 2020 presidential election. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the raid was “apparently connected to the Trump administration’s long-held and disproven belief that Fulton’s handling of the 2020 presidential election was rife with fraud.” The New York Times was even more direct, writing that the move “harnesses the investigative power of the Justice Department and the F.B.I. behind baseless claims by Mr. Trump and his supporters that the 2020 election was stolen from him.” Federal agents removed boxes of ballots that had already been counted, recounted, audited, and litigated exhaustively. Georgia conducted two recounts, including a full hand count. Trump and his allies filed dozens of lawsuits across the country — and lost every one. The facts are settled. What is not settled is whether future elections will be free and fair. If Donald Trump is allowed to seize ballots from a settled election, there is no reason to believe he will stop there. He will attempt the same thing anywhere he believes it might benefit him. This is not about protecting voters or election integrity. It is about power. Trump previewed his intentions just days earlier in Davos, falsely claiming the 2020 election was “rigged” and promising that “people will soon be prosecuted.” After news of the raid broke, he immediately returned to spreading conspiracy theories about hacked voting machines and foreign interference — lies that have been repeatedly and conclusively debunked. The search warrant authorized agents to seize all physical ballots from the 2020 election, ballot images, voter rolls, and tabulator tapes. Legal experts have raised serious concerns about whether the cited statutes are applicable or even still enforceable. The greater danger may not be prosecution at all, but the political damage caused by the mere appearance of investigation. That danger is compounded by chain-of-custody concerns. Once ballots are removed from secure state custody by federal agents, questions about their integrity are unavoidable. In a functional Justice Department, that would be unthinkable. Under this administration, it cannot be ignored. Congress has a direct and unavoidable responsibility here. You oversee the Department of Justice and the intelligence community. You control their budgets. You have the authority to demand documents, compel testimony, and prohibit the use of federal funds for election interference. If Congress does not act now, it will be complicit in normalizing the federal seizure of ballots and intimidation of election officials. Democracy does not usually end all at once. It erodes when abuses of power are met with silence and delay. Members of Congress must demand the warrant application and affidavit, require sworn testimony from DOJ, FBI, and intelligence officials, and bar the use of federal funds to seize ballots or interfere with election administration. The time to act is now — before this tactic is deployed nationwide in 2026.