The personal information of nearly 3,000 people who worked Fulton County's 2020 election, including poll workers who staffed Sandy Springs voting sites, is back in legal jeopardy after the U.S. Department of Justice appealed a federal ruling that blocked the government from obtaining their names, addresses and phone numbers.

The DOJ filed its notice of appeal on Friday, Aug. 7, challenging a July 7 decision by U.S. District Judge William M. Ray II that quashed a grand jury subpoena seeking the data. The case now goes to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit.

Then came reinforcements for Fulton County.

On Tuesday, Aug. 11, a coalition that includes 58 election workers from 23 states and the secretaries of state from New Mexico, Oregon and Maine filed a letter backing the county, warning that the subpoena effort will discourage volunteers from signing up ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm election. The letter was released by the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research.

"The federal government is targeting Americans who serve voters in their communities every election, and in particular those who served in the middle of a global pandemic," David Becker, the center's executive director, said in a statement Tuesday.

The coalition wrote that prospective poll workers "may reasonably hesitate if they believe their personal information may be at risk," according to Fulton Neighbor.

The stakes are immediate for Sandy Springs. As we reported Aug. 6, Fulton County is actively recruiting poll workers to staff local sites including the Sandy Springs Library at 395 Mount Vernon Highway and the North Fulton Service Center at 7741 Roswell Road. The county needs workers for 129 Election Day locations and 31 early voting sites during the advanced voting period running Oct. 12 through Oct. 30.

Judge Ray, a Trump appointee, called the DOJ's subpoena "unprecedented," "troubling" and "problematic" in his 28-page July 7 opinion, as WABE reported. He noted the statute of limitations for any 2020 election-related crimes has expired, and compared the government's data request to a corporate data breach.

Fulton County Commission Chair Robb Pitts said in a statement after the July 7 ruling that the county "will continue to do all that is needed to assure Georgia citizens that our election process is fair and proper and to show that the attacks against it are baseless," as Rough Draft Atlanta reported.

The DOJ originally served its subpoena in April 2026, seeking names, positions, home addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of the workers. Three recounts of Georgia's 2020 presidential vote, including one by hand, confirmed Joe Biden's victory, and previous investigations found no merit to claims of fraud or intentional misconduct by Fulton County election workers.

The DOJ has not issued a public statement beyond the notice of appeal. No comment was obtained from Fulton County's legal team on the appeal.

Residents interested in serving as poll workers for the Nov. 3 election can call 404-612-7020 or visit the Fulton County elections website. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, at least 16 years old, able to read and write English and willing to work from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Election Day.