A judge has ruled the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) may keep 2020 election ballots seized during a search in Fulton County, Georgia, earlier this year.
U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee denied a request for the original copies of the material to be returned after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized them in January, Reuters reported Thursday.
“Boulee determined there were flaws in an FBI affidavit used to secure a judge’s permission for the search, but concluded that those shortcomings did not amount to ‘callous disregard’ for the county’s rights, the legal standard required to have the records returned,” the outlet said. “‘While the Affidavit was certainly far from perfect, this is not a situation where an officer left out all the facts that might undermine probable cause or where an officer intentionally lied,’ Boulee wrote in a 68-page ruling.”
In February, Boulee, who is a Trump nominee, ordered the unsealing of the search warrant affidavit officials used to justify the action, AFP reported at the time:
According to the document, the FBI is conducting a probe into allegations of “electoral impropriety” in the 2020 election and “whether any of the improprieties were intentional acts that violated federal criminal laws.”
“The FBI criminal investigation originated from a referral sent by Kurt Olsen, Presidentially appointed Director of Election Security and Integrity,” it said.
Officials in Fulton County, which is mostly Democrat, have said they are pursuing legal options after Boulee denied the return of the election records, the Associated Press (AP) reported Wednesday.
In regard to the judge’s ruling, the AP article said, “The county also failed to show that it needs the documents or will be irreparably harmed if they are not returned, he wrote, noting this is particularly true because the Justice Department has given the county copies of the documents.”
The news of Boulee’s ruling came as President Trump has claimed there was widespread voter fraud, and as the White House has urged Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, according to Breitbart News.
“The legislation has strong bipartisan support, with 71 percent of registered voters sampled in the latest Harvard-Harris poll, including 91 percent of Republicans, 50 percent of Democrats, and 69 percent of independents in favor of it,” the outlet reported March 10.
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