“Denying members of the State Election Board access to the Election Night Reporting Room is outrageous,” Georgia Republican Party Chairman Josh McKoon said, reacting to news of how the election results of this week’s primary election will be aggregated.
“BREAKING: Georgia’s 2026 election results will be aggregated on Election Night by the secretary of state from a ‘secret emergency bunker’ which is off-limits to candidates, the public and even to the State Election Board, which has requested access,” RealClearInvestigations Senior Reporter Paul Sperry reported Monday.
State law specifically prohibits such secrecy, Sperry notes, citing O.C.G.A. § 21-2-406, which requires that “conducting of primaries and elections held under this chapter shall perform their duties in public.”
“Republican and Democrat SEC (State Election Board) members alike must have full access to observe every step of the tabulation and reporting process on Election Day and throughout election night,” Chairman McKoon wrote in a statement demanding that Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger reverse the decision to ban oversight of the vote aggregation.
“If there’s nothing to hide — you hide nothing,” a sitting member of the State Election Board and Georgia GOP First Vice Chair Salleigh Grubbs wrote in a X.com post urging Georgians to contact the secretary of state’s office and demand observer access.
Adding to the controversy, Secretary Raffensperger is overseeing a primary election that he is a candidate in, since he is campaigning to be the state’s next governor.
The room where the votes will be aggregated is known as “the bunker” because of its underground, undisclosed location, The Federalist explains:
“The secretary of state’s secure, centralized Election Night Reporting Room — known in Georgia election circles as ‘the Bunker’ — is an underground facility on the east side of Atlanta where votes from Georgia’s 159 counties are aggregated in real time and statewide results are prepared for public release. On election nights, a small team of SOS (Secretary of State) staff monitors the process in a conference-room-style setting as final numbers roll in.”
Additionally, video evidence belies claims by Raffensperger’s office that public oversight is not allowed in the bunker, The Federalist reports:
“While the secretary of state’s office maintains that the facility is not a site for public oversight, video from the April 15, 2026, SEB meeting reveals that officials have granted selective access to it. The recording shows Chairman John Fervier stating, on the record, that he has previously been invited into the Bunker by the secretary of state’s office and that he accepted the invitation. The rest of the board was not invited.”
