Riggs on track to win NC Supreme Court race
Based on a court filing from the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Democratic Supreme Court Justice will defeat Republican Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin.
Democratic Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs will win her election, provided a federal court filing submitted by the State Board of Elections late Tuesday night holds up.
While this race can’t be called with 100% certainty because of an unclear April 4 ruling from North Carolina Court of Appeals Judges Fred Gore and John Tyson, the NCSBE’s interpretation of that directive effectively makes it impossible for Republican Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin to overcome a 734-vote deficit.
Let’s dive into it…
Anchored by the North Carolina Republican Party, Griffin launched an unprecedented five-month campaign to overturn the election, arguing that the votes of more than 66,000 North Carolinians ought to be discarded over largely clerical concerns and that state laws in place at the time of the election ought to be changed and retroactively applied.
In its court filing, the State Board of Elections said the only outstanding votes in the race are those of 260 alleged “never residents” (NCSBE wrote 266, but an Anderson Alerts data review shows 260 unique voters) and 1,394 military and overseas voters from Guilford County who aren’t otherwise labeled as “never residents.”
That brings the total to 1,654 possible votes hanging in the balance, though that number will almost assuredly drop. Why? Because the NCSBE said it would count the votes of people Anderson Alerts identified as having been wrongly labeled by Griffin’s campaign as “never residents” without any action required from such voters.
Other “never resident” voters will get due process, with a 30-day window to submit a sworn affidavit stating that they have resided in the county and identifying their prior residential address.
As many as 1,394 military and overseas voters from Guilford County who didn’t submit photo ID with their ballots (even as they were explicitly advised by the NCSBE at the time of the election that such photo ID wasn’t required) will also have a 30-day opportunity to address concerns Republicans have raised with their ballots.
The NCSBE’s interpretation of the state Court of Appeals ruling and state Supreme Court’s partial reaffirmation of the appeals court decision appears accurate.
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