Judge Forces Brad Raffensperger to Open Georgia’s Election ‘Bunker’ to Poll Watchers on Primary Night

A Georgia judge just told Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that he cannot lock observers out of the room where election results are received, aggregated, and reported to the public.

Fulton County Chief Judge Ural Glanville signed a temporary restraining order on the eve of Georgia’s May 19 Republican primary, forcing Raffensperger to admit properly designated poll watchers and Georgia State Election Board observers into the Election Night Reporting Room.

The facility, also known as the Emergency Operations Center, is the nerve center where county-level results flow in, get verified, and are ultimately reported statewide.

BREAKING: We have secured a TRO from Chief Judge Glanville.

Bipartisan members of the State Election Board and poll watchers WILL be allowed inside Secretary Raffensperger’s “bunker” to observe tonight’s process.

Transparency wins. The people of Georgia deserve honest, observable elections. pic.twitter.com/BVOLnrt9Ic

— Senator Greg Dolezal (@DolezalForGA) May 19, 2026

Three Republican petitioners brought the emergency action: State Senator Greg Dolezal, U.S. House candidate Chris Mora, and Cobb County Commissioner Keli Gambrill.

All three argued that Georgia law guarantees transparency at every stage of the election process, and that Raffensperger’s office had no authority to bar credentialed observers from the room.

As The Gateway Pundit reported:

Chief Judge Ural Glanville signed a temporary restraining order granting bipartisan members of the Georgia State Election Board and poll watchers access to Raffensperger’s Election Night Reporting Room.

The room is the secure emergency operations facility where statewide vote totals from Georgia’s 159 counties are aggregated and prepared for public release on primary night.

Raffensperger’s office had resisted access requests while arguing that ballots themselves are not counted inside the facility.

The petitioners, however, argued that the reporting, aggregation, and verification process is still part of election administration and should be open to properly designated observers.

That is the heart of the fight: if the public is expected to trust the statewide reporting process, then observers should not be kept outside the door while results are flowing in.

The timing made the order even more important because Georgia voters were already heading into a live primary night.

Raffensperger’s office pushed back, arguing that no ballots are actually counted inside the Emergency Operations Center.

His team claimed that local county tabulation centers are where ballots are physically handled, scanned, and tallied, and that the reporting room is merely an administrative hub.

Judge Glanville was not persuaded.

CBS Atlanta laid out the court order this way:

Judge Glanville granted an emergency temporary restraining order directing Raffensperger to immediately allow properly designated poll watchers and State Election Board observers into the Election Night Reporting Room.

The order bars Raffensperger, his staff, contractors, and anyone acting in coordination with him from excluding or restricting observers from the room or any other facility where county results are received, processed, aggregated, or reported.

The order also requires staff to admit observers and give them reasonable proximity so they can meaningfully observe election-night activities without interfering with operations.

The restraining order remains in effect until 5 p.m. on May 28 unless the court issues another order.

A hearing on a longer-term injunction is scheduled for May 28 in Fulton County Superior Court.

That means the access fight did not end with a press statement; it ended, for now, with a binding court order.

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What makes this worse is that Raffensperger is not a neutral party in this election.

He is a candidate in the same May 19 Georgia Republican primary, running for governor.

The man overseeing the election infrastructure is on the ballot himself, and his office tried to keep observers out of the room where results are compiled and reported.

That is exactly the kind of conflict of interest that demands more transparency, not less.

Judge signs court order granting Georgia State Election Board access to the SOS election bunker…. Here is the update from @MoraForGeorgia @MarkDavisGOP @GAballots pic.twitter.com/jQJ7rO8HhU

— Voice of Rural America (@VoiceofRuralAm) May 19, 2026

The Federalist explained why the fight matters:

The Election Night Reporting Room is a centralized facility east of Atlanta where votes from all 159 Georgia counties are aggregated in real time and statewide results are prepared for public release.

Georgia GOP Chairman Josh McKoon called the denial of State Election Board access outrageous and an unacceptable assault on transparency.

It also noted that a State Election Board member had publicly raised concerns about final tabulation being done behind closed doors without independent observation and accountability.

Raffensperger’s communications director argued that no tabulation happens at the location and that election-integrity concerns should be focused on the county tabulation centers where ballots are actually handled.

Prior access to the facility had apparently been granted selectively, which undercuts the idea that observer access is impossible or unreasonable.

That is why the access question matters: the issue is not whether observers should interfere, but whether credentialed observers should be close enough to see the statewide reporting process unfold.

Observers cannot build confidence from a hallway, and voters cannot audit a process they are told must remain hidden from the very board charged with election oversight.

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According to Atlanta News First / WALB, the lawsuit was filed as a writ of mandamus petition:

Dolezal, Mora, and Gambrill sued Raffensperger in Fulton County Superior Court to demand observation of election activities tied to tabulation, aggregation, verification, and reporting.

The petition asked the court to compel Raffensperger to allow poll watchers and State Election Board members to see the process surrounding election results.

The petitioners argued that denying access would alter the transparent status of the election system, violate statutory rights, and undermine public confidence.

The political conflict hovering over the case is obvious: Raffensperger is running for governor in the very primary election his office is administering.

That does not prove wrongdoing by itself, but it makes independent oversight the obvious answer.

When the same official is both referee and candidate, the public should get more visibility into the process, not less.

The lawsuit forced that basic point into court before the election-night reporting process began.

Raffensperger’s defense leans on a technicality: votes are not counted in this room, so observers supposedly do not need to be there.

Aggregation and verification of results is not some trivial clerical task.

It is the final step before the public sees who won.

If the room is really as harmless as Raffensperger’s office claims, then credentialed observers standing in the corner should not be a problem.

The fact that three Republicans had to hire lawyers and file an emergency petition just to get inside a public election facility tells you everything you need to know.

Transparency should never require a court order.

This is a Guest Post from our friends over at 100 Percent Fed Up. View the original article here.