UPDATED: Monday, February 13, 2012 --- 4:30 p.m.

After a month of secrecy, we now know the location of the Government Accountability Board recall central office, where they're keeping all of the original recall petitions.

The office is on South Thornton Avenue, just off of Williamson Street.

It is inside the state's Central Services Building and there is still a lot of security on hand to protect the process.

There building is staffed by police officers and surrounded by a barbed wire fence.

As we get inside the recall center for the firs time, it is immediately obvious security is tight indoors as well.

GAB Director Kevin Kennedy says, "It is a very politically volatile situation."

After keeping the location secret for a month the Government Accountability Board finally decided to reveal it today because all of the petitions have been scanned, meaning if anything were to happen to the originals they have electronic backups.

Kennedy says, "We did want to protect it while we were scanning things."

The building is operated by the Department of Administration and also used for mail distribution and printing.

Employees need a keypad to get in.

Kennedy says, "I think it's only fair to the people working on this to assure them we're taking precautions for their safety as well as the safety of other state employees in this building."

Right now a few dozen employees are broken into two groups.

One group is taking the original petitions from the filing cabinets where they are all stored, and going through them line by line.

They're looking for problems or things that may make signatures invalid like a power of attorney signing for someone, or a P.O. Box listed as an address.

Kennedy says, "We actually do more review than most states do."

Two people look at every petition and then another group enters them into a database, making note of possible problems.

The GAB says at this point they haven't had any problems with people trying to get in to the secret location and now that the location has been revealed, they still don't expect any.

Kennedy says he can't give an idea of how far along they are or when the verification process might be done because they're in various stages on the petitions and it's always in flux because of things like challenges.

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UPDATED Monday, February 13, 2012 --- 12:10 p.m.

Recall petition work location no longer secret

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- Wisconsin elections officials have unveiled the previously secret location where workers are checking an estimated 1.9 million signatures on petitions seeking the recalls of Gov. Scott Walker and five others.

The work is being done on the east side of Madison about two miles from the Capitol. The 100-year-old brick building, tucked into a neighborhood right behind a popular bar, is also home to the state's printing facility and motor pool.

There is a high level of security at the building, which is behind a closed gate topped with barbed wire. Capitol police are stationed at the entrance.

Inside, about 50 temporary workers have completed the task of scanning all the petitions. They are now in the process of checking signatures and flagging any that may be disqualified.

Copyright 2012. The Associated Press.

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POSTED: Monday, February 13, 2012 --- Noon

Today the Government Accountability Board reveals where they are verifying recall petitions. They had been doing everything they could to keep the location secret to protect the safety and integrity of the verification process.

They are operating in a room at the State Central Services Building just off Williamson Street. The building is surrounded by a barbed wire fence and is staffed by several police officers providing security.

GAB Director Kevin Kennedy says they feel comfortable revealing the location at this point because all of the petitions have been scanned.

Today several media outlets, including NBC 15, were allowed into the building to observe the verification process. One group of employees are going through the original petitions, line by line, to look for errors and determine the validity of each signature. A second group are then uploading the petitions to a database, making note of all problems and invalid signatures.

NBC15's Chris Woodard will have more on this process tonight on NBC15 News at 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.