The North Carolina Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the certification of the state's Supreme Court election as it prepares to consider a challenge from a Republican appeals court judge who is seeking to overturn his loss in the November election.
North Carolina Appellate Court Judge Jefferson Griffin, who narrowly trailed sitting North Carolina Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat, in the November election, requested an immediate, temporary pause on the certification of the results last year as he asked the court to throw out more than 60,000 ballots. Such a move that would allow him to assume the lead in the race he lost by just 734 votes.
Two recounts — one machine and one partial hand — have confirmed Riggs' electoral victory. But in its order granting the stay, the GOP-led Supreme Court also outlined an "expedited briefing schedule" on Griffin's petition.
"In the absence of a stay from federal court," the court's five conservative justices wrote, "this matter should be addressed expeditiously because it concerns certification of an election."
Justice Anita Earls, the only other Democrat besides Riggs on the bench, dissented on the grounds that the standard for a pause had not been met, arguing that there is "no likelihood of success on the merits."
Griffin filed the suit challenging his loss in mid-December after the Democrat-controlled state Board of Elections rejected his claim that it had erroneously and unlawfully counted thousands of votes, including provisional ballots and those cast from military voters overseas. He argued, in part, that those ballots came from a swath of voters who had incomplete voter registration applications. Some applications are incomplete because voters did not provide or weren't asked to provide driver's license information or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
Riggs, who has served on the state Supreme Court since 2023 after being appointed, recused herself from the case immediately after it was filed in the state's highest court. The state Board of Elections previously moved to have the case removed to federal court shortly after, but the federal court sent it back to the state Supreme Court on Monday.
In an interview with Salon last month, Riggs said she was "saddened and disappointed" that the effort to contest her victory had escalated to this degree and voiced concern about the implications of the challenge on North Carolinian voters.
"We need to remember that this is about voters and their choices," she said at the time. "Sometimes maybe democracy breaks your heart, but if you believe in the institutions and the dream that our founders had, I think you have to be willing to say, 'I am not going to try to burn things down if I don't win.'"
The North Carolina Supreme Court will hear Griffin's petition later this month.
