Democrats sue Trump DOJ for records on potential ballot seizures in midterms

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) sued the Department of Justice Thursday, seeking records about any plans to seize ballots, voting machines or other election materials before the 2026 midterms are certified.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, accuses DOJ of violating the Freedom of Information Act by failing to turn over records the DNC requested in February. 

Those requests sought information about any “planned, anticipated, or potential” inspection or seizure of election materials beginning 30 days before a federal election and continuing through certification.

Nearly five months later, the DNC says it has received no responsive records. The FBI initially closed one request as too vague. The DNC appealed, but says the agency never issued a substantive response.

A parallel request sent to DOJ’s Criminal Division was routed to other components, including the Civil Rights Division, but the DNC says those offices also have not produced records.

“Seizure of cast ballots or other voting system components before certification would threaten the security, transparency, and ultimate validity of an election,” the DNC wrote. “Seizure of lawfully cast ballots prior to certification would violate voters’ First Amendment rights.”

The lawsuit is rooted in the FBI’s January raid on the Fulton County Election Hub and Operation Center in Georgia, where agents seized more than 600 boxes of records from the 2020 presidential election under a federal search warrant.

Fulton County, which includes most of Atlanta, was a central target of President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Georgia’s 2020 presidential result was subjected to a full manual audit and a Trump-requested recount, both of which confirmed Joe Biden’s victory. A later state performance review of Fulton County found no evidence of fraud, intentional misconduct or large systemic problems that would have changed the outcome.

Fulton County challenged the seizure in federal court. 

In May, U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee refused to order the records returned, but he sharply criticized portions of the FBI affidavit supporting the warrant. The DNC’s complaint notes that Boulee called the affidavit “defective in some respects,” “troubling” and “far from perfect.”

The distinction now driving Democrats’ alarm is timing: The Fulton records came from an election certified more than five years earlier. The DNC is trying to determine whether the Trump administration has considered seizing election materials before certification, when removing ballots or voting equipment could interfere with counting, recounts and the chain of custody.

The complaint also points to DOJ’s removal of a longstanding election-prosecution manual that warned against taking election records from local officials before certification. Related noninterference language remains in the Justice Manual.

The DNC is asking the court to order DOJ  to search for responsive records, release all nonexempt material and identify anything it withholds and why. The lawsuit does not establish that a pre-certification seizure plan exists. It seeks the records that could show whether one has been contemplated.