North Carolina Judge Rejects GOP State Supreme Court Candidate’s Bid To Throw Out 60K Ballots
A Wake County Superior Court judge rejected a bid by GOP North Carolina Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin to overturn his 2024 election loss to incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs by disqualifying over 60,000 lawfully cast ballots.
The ruling comes after Judge William Pittman held a hearing earlier today concerning Griffin’s election protests over three separate categories of ballots — all of which were previously denied by the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
“The Court concludes that the decision of the North Carolina State Board of Elections should be, and hereby is, affirmed,” Pittman wrote in Friday’s trio of orders.
The three buckets of contested ballots included those cast by overseas voters who did not submit a copy of their photo IDs, voters who never previously resided in North Carolina and individuals whose voter registrations were allegedly incomplete. Opponents of Griffin maintain that the challenges are baseless and emphasize that affected voters complied with all of the state’s voting rules as required.
Throughout the last couple of months, Griffin’s legal disputes over his election loss have bounced back and forth between state and federal courts, which has prolonged resolution of the case. On Tuesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that North Carolina State courts should hear the challenge first, but noted that the legal action could return to a federal court if necessary.
All the while, the certification of Riggs’ victory over Griffin — which was confirmed by two separate recounts — has remained on hold due to an earlier order from the GOP-controlled North Carolina Supreme Court. Today’s ruling is likely to be appealed by Griffin, first to the state court of appeals, and then ultimately to the state Supreme Court, which dismissed an earlier petition from the GOP candidate as premature.
Riggs — along with North Carolina Democrats and voting rights advocates — has repeatedly condemned Griffin’s legal maneuvers seeking to gain a seat on the state Supreme Court bench by disenfranchising North Carolinians en masse.
The North Carolina Supreme Court election at issue is the last uncertified 2024 statewide race in the country and the court’s 2025 term begins Tuesday, Feb. 11.
Read the order on incomplete voter registration forms here.
Read the order on “never resident” voters here.
Read the order on lack of photo ID for overseas voters here.