Brad Raffensperger blocked poll watchers and State Election Board members from the underground Emergency Operations Center where his office receives, verifies, and publishes Georgia’s statewide vote totals on election night. Three Republican candidates sued him for it on May 18. A Fulton County Superior Court judge agreed with them — then voided his own order on a procedural technicality. By the time polls closed, Raffensperger had failed to advance in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
The petitioners — 11th District congressional candidate Christopher Mora, State Sen. Greg Dolezal running for lieutenant governor, and Cobb County Commission candidate Keli Gambrill — argued Georgia law requires transparency in all aspects of election conduct and that Raffensperger’s refusal to admit observers violated those statutes. The petition noted Raffensperger was himself a candidate in the May 19 primary, a conflict of interest the petitioners argued made independent oversight all the more necessary.
Chief Judge Ural Glanville granted a temporary restraining order that morning. Hours later he voided it. The petitioners had not complied with O.C.G.A. § 9-10-2, which governs how injunctive relief may be sought against a state official in his official capacity. The underlying transparency arguments were never ruled on. A hearing on the merits is set for May 28 at 1 p.m.
Raffensperger’s campaign told 11Alive that votes are not counted at the Emergency Operations Center — only pre-certified county results are aggregated there. VoterGA co-founder Garland Favorito called that a false argument. “Statewide votes are verified, aggregated, and reported from a secret bunker,” Favorito said, “and the secrecy has to stop.”
The dispute over what happens inside that facility sits against a larger federal investigation HCA has followed since December 2025. On December 9, Fulton County attorney Ann Brumbaugh told the State Election Board that 315,000 early votes in the 2020 election were counted without required signatures on tabulator tapes. “We do not dispute that the tapes were not signed,” Brumbaugh said. “It was a violation of the rule.” The board voted 3-0 to refer the matter to the Attorney General. On January 28, 2026, FBI agents executed a criminal search warrant and seized 700 boxes of ballots, tabulator tapes, and voter rolls from the county’s Elections Hub in Union City.
On May 7, U.S. District Judge Jean-Paul Boulee ruled the Justice Department does not have to return the more than 600 boxes still in federal custody. A separate grand jury subpoena demanding the names, home addresses, and personal contact information of every person who worked or volunteered in Fulton County’s 2020 general election remains pending before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.
The May 28 hearing will determine whether observers gain access to the bunker going forward. Dolezal advanced to the Republican lieutenant governor runoff. Raffensperger did not make the governor’s runoff.
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