The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation reportedly dismissed two analysts last week over their assertion that the probe into the 2020 election results in Fulton County, Georgia, lacked a solid evidentiary footing and carried signs of political motivation.
The dismissals came on the heels of a large-scale Bureau operation to sift through thousands of documents obtained earlier this year following the issuance of a search warrant. That operation turned up all paper ballots from 2020, tally machine tapes, ballot images, and voter rolls. To go over the data, the FBI brought in 260 analysts, each tasked with checking several hundred entries against a master spreadsheet. That spreadsheet contains personal details: voters’ names, addresses, and ID numbers.
Sources further note that the analysts’ next step is to cross-check this information against the Accurint commercial database, which aggregates publicly available data, including names, addresses, phone numbers, and criminal records. The aim of the cross-check is to flag any discrepancies. So far, the Bureau has not disclosed what specific actions it intends to take upon completion of this review.
A number of experts and insiders have voiced concerns that the Trump administration may try to leverage the review’s findings to make claims about election fraud in 2020. Such a move could undermine confidence in the electoral process ahead of the midterms, or be used as a lever to pressure Republicans into backing the SAVE Act. If passed, that legislation would require Americans to present documents proving their citizenship in person when registering to vote.