NC Election Commission Ordered to Certify Supreme Court Results

A federal judge has instructed the North Carolina Election Commission to validate that Democrat Allison Riggs won the state Supreme Court election against Republican Jefferson Griffin, keeping thousands of disputed votes included in the final tally from the November election.

US District Judge Richard Myers, who was appointed by Donald Trump in 2019, sided with Riggs and others in their claim that a recent US Court of Appeals decision was unconstitutional. Myers stated that removing votes six months after the election would undermine due process and the equal protection rights of voters.

He mandated that the state election commission prove Riggs’ narrow victory by just 734 votes after two recounts.

Federal Judges Move State Supreme Court Election Dispute Back to State Court

Myers also noted that the state must certify the results of the seat six election based on the vote count completed by December 10, 2024. He rejected Griffin’s requests for judicial review and injunctive relief.

Griffin now has seven days to decide whether to appeal Myers’ order to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. As of now, over 5.5 million votes are still uncounted in the last undecided race in the country since the November election.

The central issue at hand is whether changes to election laws can be applied retroactively and selectively to certain groups of voters, potentially treating them differently than others in similar situations.

Myers asserted that the board should not follow the orders from the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court but rather provide evidence of the election results based on the tally at the end of the canvas period. Griffin had protested the election results, believing that if the votes he claimed were cast illegally were removed, he could overturn the election result.

Griffin’s team was reviewing Myers’ ruling on Monday night to consider their next steps, according to his campaign spokesperson.

Focus on the Last Undecided Election in 2024

“We won today,” Riggs exclaimed in a statement. “I’m proud to uphold the constitution and the rule of law as a judge on the North Carolina Supreme Court.”

Griffin had sought to maintain focus on the state court’s decisions, which would give voters with ineligible votes 30 days to present identification to retain their ballots in the tallies.

Riggs and others have accused Griffin of attempting to alter the election results by invalidating votes from voters who followed the established voting guidelines.

Myers noted that Griffin’s formal protests were essentially efforts to retroactively change voting laws in a way that unfairly disenfranchised specific voters—particularly targeting those in predominantly Democratic counties.

Myers’ comprehensive 68-page order emphasized the importance of adhering to pre-established election rules, declaring that overturning election rules post-election erodes public trust in both the courts and the electoral process.

Additionally, votes from military and overseas voters have specific provisions that exempt them from certain identification requirements, allowing their votes to count despite challenges related to their absentee ballots.

The Implications of the Court Rulings

Griffin’s formal protest has reportedly covered over 65,000 votes, but court documents suggest the state court’s decision has reduced that number to somewhere between 1,675 and 7,000.