Federal judge says results of North Carolina court race with Democrat
ahead must be certified
[May 06, 2025]
By GARY D. ROBERTSON
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Disputed ballots in the still unresolved 2024 race
for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat must remain in the final count,
a federal judge ruled late Monday, a decision that if upheld would
result in an electoral victory for Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs.
U.S. District Judge Richard Myers agreed with Riggs and others who
argued it would be a violation of the U.S. Constitution to carry out
recent decisions by state appeals courts that directed the removal of
potentially thousands of voter ballots they deemed ineligible. Myers
wrote that votes couldn't be removed six months after Election Day
without damaging due process or equal protection rights of the affected
residents.
Myers also ordered the State Board of Elections to certify results that
after two recounts showed Riggs the winner — by just 734 votes — over
Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin. But the judge delayed his order
for seven days in case Griffin wants to appeal the ruling to the 4th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
The board "must not proceed with implementation of the North Carolina
Court of Appeals and Supreme Court’s orders, and instead must certify
the results of the election for (the seat) based on the tally at the
completion of the canvassing period," wrote Myers, who was nominated to
the bench by President Donald Trump.
More than 5.5 million ballots were cast in what has been the nation’s
last undecided race from November’s general election. Griffin, himself a
state Court of Appeals judge, filed formal protests after the election
in hopes that removing ballots he said were unlawfully cast would flip
the outcome to him.
Incumbent celebrating, challenger evaluating
Griffin's legal team was reviewing Myers' order Monday night and
evaluating the next steps, Griffin campaign spokesperson Paul Shumaker
wrote in an email.
Riggs was more assured in her statement: “Today, we won. I‘m proud to
continue upholding the Constitution and the rule of law as North
Carolina’s Supreme Court Justice."
Griffin wanted Myers to leave undisturbed the state courts' decisions,
which also directed that most of the voters with otherwise ineligible
ballots get 30 days to provide identifying information for their race
choices to remain in the tally.
Riggs, the state Democratic Party and some affected voters said Griffin
was trying to change the 2024 election outcome after the fact by
removing ballots cast by voters who complied with voting rules as they
were written last fall.
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Judge: You can't change rules for a game that's over
Myers wrote that Griffin’s formal protests after the election, which
were rejected by the State Board of Elections, constituted efforts
to make retroactive changes to the voting laws that would
arbitrarily disenfranchise only the voters who were targeted by
Griffin. Griffin’s challenges over voters not providing photo
identification only covered at most six Democratic-leaning counties
in the state.
“You establish the rules before the game. You don’t change them
after the game is done,” Myers wrote in a 68-page order.
“Permitting parties to ‘upend the set rules’ of an election after
the election has taken place can only produce ‘confusion and
turmoil'" that "'threatens to undermine public confidence in the
federal courts, state agencies, and the elections themselves,'" he
added while citing other cases.
Democrats and voting rights groups raised alarm about Griffin’s
efforts. They called it an attack on democracy that would serve as a
road map for the GOP to reverse election results in other states.
Monday's order “must bring an end — once and for all — to
Republicans’ attempts to overturn a free and fair election,”
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said.
The state Republican Party, which didn't immediately comment Monday,
has said Griffin was seeking to ensure that only legal votes are
counted.
Two categories of ballots at issue
One category of ballots that state appeals courts were found to be
ineligible covered military or overseas voters who didn’t provide
copies of photo identification or an ID exception form with their
absentee ballots. A state rule exempted them from the requirement.
The appeals courts had permitted a “cure” process for these voters
so their ballots could still count in the race.
The other category of ballots that the appeals courts declared
violated the state constitution were cast by overseas voters who
have never lived in the U.S. but whose parents were declared North
Carolina residents. A state law had authorized these persons to vote
in state elections. While these people had no substantive right to
have their votes counted, Myers wrote, there is “sufficient
evidence” that some people are mistakenly on the list and have no
opportunity to contest their ineligibility, which “represents a
unconstitutional burden on the right to vote.”
Griffin filed formal protests that appeared to cover more than
65,000 ballots. Ensuing state court rulings whittled down the total
to as few as 1,675 ballots or perhaps as many as 7,000, according to
court filings.
Riggs is one of two Democrats on the seven-member state Supreme
Court, and winning an eight-year term would improve the party’s
efforts to retake a majority on the court later in the decade.
Griffin and Riggs have not participated in deliberations in their
respective courts about their election.
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