North Carolina Republicans are making a concerted effort to maintain their overwhelming majority on the state Supreme Court by challenging the results of a recent election for a seat on the court. The Democratic incumbent, Allison Riggs, narrowly defeated Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin by just over 700 votes.
Despite her apparent victory, Griffin has refused to concede, requesting multiple recounts and challenging the validity of approximately 60,000 votes in a move that Riggs describes as an attempt to change the election rules after the votes have already been counted.
Riggs filed a brief in response to Griffin’s challenge, arguing that his petition was both legally and constitutionally improper. She asserted that Griffin’s request to discard votes based on new, retroactive rules was fundamentally wrong and akin to asking for a redo after losing a game. Her legal team emphasized that such actions would set a dangerous precedent, allowing a candidate to overturn an election result by changing the rules post-election.
Griffin first requested a machine recount after trailing Riggs by 734 votes, as state law allows for recounts when the margin is under 10,000 votes. The machine recount confirmed Riggs’ lead.
Griffin then asked for a partial hand recount to further investigate discrepancies, although the full hand recount has not yet been conducted. Meanwhile, Griffin has raised a more significant issue by challenging the validity of 60,000 ballots, claiming that these votes should be disqualified because of alleged irregularities in voter registration details.
North Carolina Republicans Challenge Supreme Court Election Results, Raising Concerns Over Voter Disqualification
The challenge to these 60,000 ballots has raised alarms among voting rights advocates, who argue that the move is part of a broader Republican strategy to disrupt voter rolls and alter election outcomes.
The specific issues with the ballots primarily involve incomplete voter registration details, such as missing social security numbers or driver’s license information. Critics view these challenges as an effort to disqualify legitimate voters, particularly as they were only raised after the election, despite voter registration lists being available months in advance.
In response to Griffin’s challenges, the North Carolina Democratic Party filed a federal lawsuit, arguing that the State Board of Elections should block the proposed disqualification of ballots.
The lawsuit contends that Griffin’s actions violate federal laws, including the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, which safeguard voters’ rights to have their ballots counted. The case calls for a declaratory judgment to protect these fundamental rights, while Griffin has taken steps to intervene in the legal proceedings.
The timing of the challenges has raised further concerns. If there were legitimate issues with the 60,000 voters’ registration details, they should have been identified and addressed before the election, not weeks afterward. This pattern of post-election challenges mirrors previous Republican efforts to remove voters from the rolls, as seen in a federal case in October where the Republican National Committee sought to remove 225,000 North Carolina voters based on incomplete registrations.
Although that lawsuit was partially dismissed, it remains uncertain how the State Board of Elections, which holds a Democratic majority, will rule on Griffin’s challenges, with a decision expected soon. If the board rejects the challenges, Griffin is likely to appeal.
