April 5, 2025 Story by: Editor
A North Carolina appeals court ruled on Friday in favor of a Republican candidate challenging the outcome of a 2023 state Supreme Court election, stating that thousands of ballots should be excluded unless voters quickly resolve registration issues.
In a 2-1 decision, the North Carolina Court of Appeals backed Judge Jefferson Griffin, a Republican serving on the appellate court, who had been trailing Democratic Justice Allison Riggs by 734 votes following the general election and subsequent recounts.
Griffin’s campaign welcomed the decision, calling it a “win for the citizens of North Carolina.” However, Democrats criticized the ruling, warning that if upheld by the Republican-majority state Supreme Court, it could overturn an election outcome months after ballots were cast.
“We will be promptly appealing this deeply misinformed decision that threatens to disenfranchise more than 65,000 lawful voters and sets a dangerous precedent, allowing disappointed politicians to thwart the will of the people,” Riggs said in a statement.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections, in response to the ruling, noted that the decision is not currently in effect due to the expected appeal. Regardless of the legal outcome, the board urged voters to submit updated registration forms to avoid similar issues.
When polls closed on November 5, Griffin was ahead by nearly 10,000 votes. But as more ballots were counted, that margin narrowed, and recounts confirmed Riggs had won by 734 votes out of more than 5.5 million ballots cast in the tightly contested race.
Griffin contends that over 60,000 ballots should be tossed because the voters who cast them failed to include either their North Carolina driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number—requirements established under a 2004 state law.
Judges John Tyson and Fred Gore, both Republicans and Griffin’s colleagues on the appeals court, authored the majority opinion. They concluded that the law remains valid and that the State Board of Elections did not adequately ensure voters corrected missing information.
Though the majority noted they had the authority to discard the ballots outright, they instead ordered the elections board to notify the affected voters and give them 15 days to correct any deficiencies.
Judge Toby Hampson, a Democrat, dissented, arguing that voters had no indication before the election that their ballots might be invalidated based on registration details.
“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,” Hampson wrote.
The appellate ruling overturns a lower court decision that had supported the actions of the elections board.
Riggs, who was appointed in 2023 by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper to fill a vacancy, is seeking a full eight-year term on the seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court. The court currently holds a 5-2 Republican majority. She will remain on the bench while the election challenge proceeds.
Source: Reuters
