NC judge rejects Griffin's election protests

A North Carolina judge ruled in favor of Riggs and found the State Board of Elections was justified in rejecting all three of Griffin's categories of election protests.

Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs and Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin attend a court hearing in Wake County on Friday, Feb. 7. (screenshots via WRAL livestream)

After weeks of ping-ponging between state and federal courts and procedural messiness, the Wake County Superior Court on Friday finally heard a dispute over a pivotal state Supreme Court race.

Republican Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin appeared nervous and subdued in the courtroom as his attorneys presented their case for overturning his apparent defeat. Meanwhile, an exasperated and infuriated Democratic incumbent Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs watched on as her attorneys hoped to get her 734-vote lead certified.

And late Friday, Superior Court Judge William Pittman, a special superior court judge first appointed by former Democratic Gov. Mike Easley, sided with Riggs and the State Board of Elections and rejected all three of Griffin’s protests.

“The Court concludes that the decision of the North Carolina State Board of Elections should be, and hereby is, affirmed,” Pittman wrote.

But Pittman’s decisions are all but assured to work their way to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, followed by the state Supreme Court, and possibly the federal court system thereafter.