Disputed race for the North Carolina Supreme Court will now go before a federal judge

Not so fast. Republican Jefferson Griffin's urgent bid to get the North Carolina Supreme Court to take up his election protests in a race for an associate justice seat has been shifted to federal court.

Griffin, a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, has not conceded his race to Democrat Allison Riggs, the incumbent state Supreme Court justice who has held onto her more than 700-vote lead over Griffin through two recounts.

Griffin is banking on protests he filed challenging more than 60,000 ballots. He wants them invalidated because of alleged irregularities, including incomplete voter registrations.

Voters swept up in the protests include Democrats, Republicans, Riggs' parents, and an editor at WUNC.

Last week, the North Carolina State Board of Elections dismissed Griffin's protests, finding they lacked sufficient evidence, and that the GOP candidate failed to adequately notify affected voters.

Normally, Griffin first would have filed an appeal in state Superior Court. But on Wednesday, Griffin filed a writ of prohibition, seeking to circumvent the typical appeals process and went right to the North Carolina Supreme Court, asking the justices to prevent certification of the election and invalidate the 60,000-plus challenged ballots.

In his motion for intervention by the state Supreme Court, Griffin argued the court's urgent action was needed lest the state elections board certify the results of his race against Riggs.

Griffin argued the court needed to issue a stay in the matter by Monday, Dec. 23. However, the elections board noted in its motion to remove the cast to federal court, Griffin inaccurately overstated the urgency of the situation.

The elections board's motion pointed out that under state law, the elections board can't issue a certificate of election until 13 days after the board serves both candidates with a decision on all protests. The soonest that would happen, according to the elections board's removal motion, is Jan. 3, 2025.

Moreover, the removal motion said, Griffin would likely have until January 6 seek a court-ordered stay in the election certification process.

The elections board also justified the removal to U.S. District Court because Griffin's protests implicate federal election law. Among other things, Griffin is seeking court rulings on provisions of the federal Help America Vote Act and the National Voter Registration Act.
https://www.wunc.org/politics/2024-12-19/disputed-race-north-carolina-supreme-court-federal-judge-griffin-riggs?_amp=true



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