Allison Riggs, left, and Jefferson Griffin, right, ran for a seat on the NC Supreme Court in 2024. Riggs won, but Griffin is challenging 65,000 votes in court in an effort to overturn his loss. (Photos via Riggs, Griffin campaigns)
Following multiple recounts, Justice Riggs leads Griffin by 734 votes. Despite the repeated verifications of Riggs’ win, Judge Griffin is still pushing for the votes of tens of thousands of North Carolinians to be discarded.
It has been 59 days since Election Day, and despite multiple recounts and verifications of Justice Allison Riggs’ victory in the North Carolina Supreme Court race, her opponent, Republican nominee Jefferson Griffin, has yet to concede despite Riggs maintaining a 734 vote lead.
Griffin has attempted to toss out 60,000 votes in the race, arguing that they didn’t properly complete their voter registration form, and on December 18th, asked the state Supreme Court, with a 5-2 Republican majority, to invalidate the votes. In response, the Board of Elections filed its own suit to move the case to federal court.
On December 23, Griffin filed a suit in the Eastern District of North Carolina calling for an injunction to prevent the North Carolina Board of Elections from certifying Riggs victory.
On January 1, Riggs, the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBOE), and voting rights groups, filed briefs in federal court in the case of Griffin v. North Carolina State Board of Elections, seeking to end Griffin’s attempts to drag the process out.
“Judge Griffin cannot show that he is likely to succeed in throwing out tens of thousands of votes cast by his fellow North Carolinians in compliance with official guidance. And the public interest does not favor runner-up candidates who seek to undo the will of the voters,” the filing from Riggs’ legal team read.
Joining Riggs in filing briefs were former members of Congress, including Tom Daschle and Richard Gephardt, who helped pass the Help America Vote Act of 2002. They argue Griffin’s attempt to invalidate upwards of 60,000 votes violates that act, and thus needs to be addressed in federal court.
“…any ruling on whether the 60,000 voters in question are entitled to vote in state elections will also dictate whether they can vote in federal elections, and vice versa,” they said.
Without an injunction, the NCSBOE can certify Riggs victory on January 9th.
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