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In an unexpected move last night, the North Carolina Supreme Court dismissed GOP candidate Jefferson Griffin’s petition challenging over 60,000 ballots cast in his November 2024 race for a seat on the bench, which he lost to incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs by over 700 votes.
However, the ruling does not mark the end of Griffin’s ongoing legal dispute over his recent election loss.
Wednesday’s order specified that the Wake County Superior Court must hear Griffin’s protests concerning three separate categories of ballots — all of which were previously rejected by the state board of elections — before the state’s highest court ultimately weighs in. The three buckets of ballots challenged by Griffin include those cast by overseas voters who did not submit a copy of their photo IDs, voters who never previously resided in North Carolina and individuals whose voter registrations were allegedly incomplete.
The state Supreme Court also noted that its previous Jan. 7 order halting certification of the contested election will remain in place until the matter is fully resolved, leaving the final outcome of the race hanging in the balance. Democratic Justice Anita Earls dissented from her colleagues’ decision to leave the stay of certification in place, noting that it “prevents the Wake County Superior Court from deciding for itself whether Griffin is likely to succeed on the merits and whether a stay is justified.”
Riggs responded to the court’s latest action in a statement saying that “while I agree with the North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision yesterday to dismiss Judge Griffin’s inappropriate request for a writ of prohibition, I am disappointed that the door has been opened to dragging this out for so long.”
