The Carter Center is speaking out against Wednesday’s FBI search of Fulton County election facilities, calling the federal action unprecedented and harmful to voter confidence.
According to a statement from the organization, the FBI search represents an attempt to undermine election integrity during a consequential election year.
“The Carter Center is deeply concerned by news that agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation are executing a search of Fulton County election facilities,” the statement reads. “Such an action by the FBI has no recent precedent in American elections.”
The statement comes as FBI agents executed a court-authorized search at the county’s main elections office in Union City. An FBI spokesperson confirmed the action but declined to provide additional details, citing an ongoing matter.
The Carter Center, founded by former President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, has monitored more than 100 elections in 39 countries since 1989. The Atlanta-based organization is internationally recognized for promoting democracy and has observed elections everywhere from Indonesia to Liberia.
While the organization typically monitors elections in developing democracies, it has occasionally weighed in on American election issues when fundamental democratic principles appear threatened.
In its statement, the Carter Center frames the FBI action within the context of Georgia’s 2020 election, which has been the subject of extensive litigation.
“In 2020, amid a global pandemic, millions of Georgians cast their ballots. Since then, their votes have been counted and recounted,” the statement notes. “The results of the election have been extensively litigated and repeatedly upheld in court.”
The organization suggests Georgians are ready to move forward from 2020 election disputes.
“Now, more than five years later, Georgians and Americans everywhere are ready to move on,” according to the statement.
The FBI search comes as President Donald Trump continues to claim the 2020 election was stolen, despite judges across the country and his own attorney general finding no evidence of widespread problems that would have changed the outcome.
Trump has long targeted Georgia for his election complaints. He famously asked the state’s then-secretary of state to “find” him enough votes to overturn the contest.
Last week, Trump said “people will soon be prosecuted for what they did” when discussing the 2020 election, though he didn’t explain what he meant.
Fulton County has been at the center of election controversy for years. District Attorney Fani Willis secured an indictment against Trump and 18 others in August 2023, accusing them of participating in a scheme to illegally overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Courts threw out that case in November after blocking Willis and her office from continuing because of an “appearance of impropriety” stemming from a romantic relationship she had with a prosecutor she put in charge of the case.
The county has also faced scrutiny over paperwork failures involving vote tabulator tapes tied to about 315,000 early votes cast in the 2020 election. County officials said the votes themselves were properly cast and counted, but workers didn’t follow documentation rules.
The Justice Department wouldn’t comment on Wednesday’s search.
The Carter Center’s statement characterizes the FBI action as part of a broader pattern.
“This appears to be yet another attempt to sow doubt in election integrity and undermine voter confidence during a consequential election year,” the organization stated.
The timing of the search raises questions about federal law enforcement priorities under FBI Director Kash Patel, who was appointed by Trump.
For Fulton County, the FBI search represents the latest chapter in an ongoing saga that has made the county synonymous with election controversy.
ON THE 2020 ELECTION:
“People who were surprised by Fulton County’s 2020 performance must not know Fulton very well. Around here, ‘election night’ and ‘Fulton County’ go together like ‘barbecue’ and ‘milk.’
