Federal judge directs elections officials to implement Supreme Court order, dealing blow to Riggs

A federal judge on Saturday ordered the State Board of Elections to go ahead with discarding votes, but hold off on certifying any election results.

Democratic Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs addresses supporters in Raleigh on March 5, 2024.

U.S. District Judge Richard Myers on Saturday ordered the North Carolina State Board of Elections to implement a Supreme Court order that stands to result in hundreds to thousands of ballots being discarded in an ongoing Supreme Court election protest.

But the judge also offered some hope for Riggs, as elections officials must hold off on certifying election results for the time being.

It will now be left to the Court of Appeals to provide updated instructions for how the State Board of Elections is to implement Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin’s efforts to overturn an apparent 734-vote defeat to Democratic Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs.

As things stand, at least 1,654 voters are at risk of having their ballots discarded, including 260 voters deemed as “never residents.” (Griffin cited 267 people in his filing, but a handful of them were listed two or three times). It’s unclear whether thousands of additional military and overseas voters from Buncombe, Forsyth and Durham counties are also at risk.

Anderson Alerts has a spreadsheet available here listing all the voters whose ballots remain in question and which protest category they fall into.