A three-judge panel on the North Carolina Court of Appeals Friday afternoon voted 2-1 in a ruling that puts Republican Jefferson Griffin on the cusp of overturning Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs鈥� 734-vote lead for a seat on the state Supreme Court.
The two Republican judges voted in favor of Griffin. The Democratic judge sided with Riggs.
House Democratic leader Robert Reives said in a statement that 鈥淭he North Carolina Republican Party is one step closer to stealing an election in broad daylight.鈥�
The ruling does not explicitly discard the roughly 65,000 challenged ballots, but it puts the Riggs campaign 鈥� and voters 鈥� on an extraordinarily tight window to fix, or 鈥渃ure,鈥� the voters鈥� registrations.
After the state Board of Elections receives the court鈥檚 ruling, it鈥檚 directed to immediately notify county elections boards that they must contact the voters whose ballots are being challenged.
- The biggest batch of voters 鈥� more than 60,000 鈥� is said to have incomplete voter registration forms. The voters have 15 days to provide the missing information, such as the last four digits of their Social Security number. If they provide that information, the court said their ballots will count.
- The next largest group of voters is roughly 5,500 military and overseas voters who did not provide a photo ID when voting. They also have 15 days to provide an ID.
- There are also about 270 voters who cast ballots who are not North Carolina residents, nor have they lived in the state. (They could be U.S. citizens who live abroad with their parents, who have lived in the state.) Their ballots were discarded.
The Democratic judge, Toby Hampson, dissented.
He noted Griffin has not found one example of a fraudulent vote.
鈥淧etitioner has yet to identify a single voter 鈥� among the tens of thousands Petitioner challenges in this appeal 鈥� who was, in fact, ineligible to vote in the 2024 General Election under the statutes, rules, and regulations in place in November 2024 governing that election. Every single voter challenged by Petitioner in this appeal, both here and abroad, cast their absentee, early, or overseas ballot by following every instruction they were given to do so. Their ballots were accepted. Their ballots were counted. The results were canvassed.鈥�
He continued: 鈥淣one of these challenged voters was given any reason to believe their vote would not be counted on election day or included in the final tallies 鈥� Changing the rules by which these lawful voters took part in our electoral process after the election to discard their otherwise valid votes in an attempt to alter the outcome of only one race among many on the ballot is directly counter to law, equity, and the Constitution.鈥�
The case will almost certainly be appealed to the state Supreme Court. But that鈥檚 probably a dead end for Riggs, who has recused herself from the case.
The GOP will have a 5-1 advantage when it considers the case. If the court ties 3-3, the three-judge panel鈥檚 ruling stands.
Even after that, however, the case could return to federal court.
