
NC appellate judge Jefferson Griffin has asked the state Supreme Court to overturn his election loss in 2024.
Jefferson Griffin, the Republican who lost the NC Supreme Court election, is seeking an unprecedented thing from the court he ran for. He wants them to change the outcome of an election.
On Wednesday, Jefferson Griffin, who lost the NC Supreme Court election by 734 votes, petitioned the court to throw out the ballots of 60,000 North Carolinians so that he would win.
Multiple outlets reported that news Wednesday. Three counts of the votes, including two recounts, confirmed that incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs won the election, but Griffin, a Republican and current appellate court judge, filed challenges with state elections officials last month, arguing that these 60,000 votes should not have been counted in the first place, because the voters’ registrations were missing some required information on a state database.
But the vast majority of these contested voters are likely eligible voters, and there are lots of valid reasons the information might be missing from the database, election officials say.
These voters also had to show their voter ID before voting, and most have been voting without issue for years.
Griffin is not seeking a process that looks at each voter, he’s seeking a mass purge after the ballots have already been counted.
To throw out all these votes based on a paperwork issue would be an unprecedented interference in an election.
The Board of Elections rejected Griffin’s challenge earlier this month, and Griffin is now appealing to the top court in the state, which has a 5-2 Republican majority. Stay tuned to Cardinal & Pine for updates.
Support Our Cause
Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for North Carolinians and our future.
Since day one, our goal here at Cardinal & Pine has always been to empower people across the state with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of North Carolina families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.

One year after Helene, NC program teaches students resilience
By Eric Tegethoff As the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene's devastating landfall approaches, a program in western North Carolina schools is...

Reduced fine for NC farmworker’s death raises accountability questions
By Eric Tegethoff During National Farm Safety and Health Week, a massively reduced fine for poor conditions that led to a farmworker's death...

Good News Friday: ‘Good Morning America’ spotlights North Carolina’s hurricane recovery efforts in Asheville
In this week's Good News Friday, we take a look at the "Good Morning America" visit to Biltmore to talk Helene recovery in Asheville, plus more good...

Good News Friday: ‘Good Morning America’ spotlights North Carolina’s hurricane recovery efforts in Asheville
In this week's Good News Friday, we take a look at the "Good Morning America" visit to Biltmore to talk Helene recovery in Asheville, plus more good...

UNC-Wilmington chancellor on false alarm lockdown: ‘I am angry for this violation’
Less than 24 hours after unconfirmed reports of a gunman were found to be untrue, UNC-Wilmington's chancellor said "the very sanctity of our campus...