A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration can keep more than 600 boxes of 2020 Fulton County election ballots and records seized by the FBI earlier this year. 

In a decision released Wednesday, U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee said the county did not meet the high legal standard needed to force the evidence’s return.

The ruling adds another chapter to the long-running fight over Georgia’s 2020 election, which President Donald Trump and his allies have repeatedly and falsely claimed was stolen. 

Fulton County argued that the seizure was improper and unconstitutional, and that keeping the ballots could harm the secrecy of the vote. 

Boulee rejected that argument, saying county officials did not show their rights were “callously disregarded” or that they would suffer irreparable harm if the materials stayed in federal custody.

"The seizure in this case was certainly not perfect," Boulee wrote. "However ... petitioners did not establish that their rights were callously disregarded either through the lack of probable cause, omissions in the Affidavit or by the manner of the execution of the seizure."

In January, FBI agents raided Fulton County's elections office, as part of a federal probe into possible election law violations. 

Court filings and earlier reporting show the search focused on ballots and related materials from the 2020 race, when Georgia voted for Joe Biden after multiple recounts confirmed the result. The case drew attention because it involved records from one of the country’s largest and most closely watched counties.

Still, Boulee said Fulton County had not shown that the election materials were manipulated, misused, or publicly disclosed. That left the federal government free to keep the records while the investigation continues.