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Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin continues to pursue litigation in hopes of overturning the results of the November election he lost to incumbent Justice Allison Riggs. (File photos)
Republican Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin officially launched an appeal of a Wake County trial court’s rejection of his effort to throw out more than 60,000 votes.
On Monday, Griffin filed notice he is appealing Superior Court Judge William Pittman’s ruling in favor of the state Board of Elections.
Griffin trails Democratic incumbent Supreme Court Judge Allison Riggs by 734 votes. In his effort to win, he is seeking to nullify tens of thousands of votes his campaign says were illegally cast. Republicans blame the state Board of Elections.
The state Board of Elections dismissed Griffin’s election protests in December.
After a hearing Friday, Pittman affirmed the election board’s actions. “The Board’s decision was not in violation of constitutional provisions, was not in excess of statutory authority or jurisdiction of the agency, was made upon lawful procedure, and was not affected by other error of law,” he wrote.
Republicans dominate the Court of Appeals, holding 12 of 15 seats. Appeals Court judges hear cases in panels of three.
One of the judges, Tom Murry, contributed to Griffin’s legal fund from his Attorney General campaign fund, WUNC reported. Murry announced a run for Attorney General before switching to run for an Appeals Court seat.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin called on Griffin, Murry and Appeals Court Judge Valerie Zachary to recuse themselves. According to state campaign finance reports, Zachary’s campaign committee reimbursed Griffin’s campaign $434.47 for an April 2024 event.
The state legislature’s leading Democrats, Sen. Sydney Batch of Wake and Rep. Robert Reives of Chatham, said in a joint statement that Jefferson should recuse himself from the case.
Calling Griffin’s lawsuits “baseless,” Batch said he “is taking his case to a court where he himself sits. This is a blatant conflict of interest, and it is crucial that he recuse himself. North Carolinians deserve a judiciary that is fair and impartial – not one where the losing candidates can rule on their own cases.”
Riggs recused herself from considering a petition Griffin brought to the state Supreme Court where he asked the high court to order ballots thrown out.
Griffin is challenging three sets of ballots. He claims more than 60,000 votes were cast by people who are not legally registered because they did not include partial Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers on their registration applications. In the last few months, voters Griffin is challenging have come forward to declare they did include the information, but it was not attached to electronic voter rolls due to data mismatches or typos.
Griffin is challenging about 5,500 military and overseas absentee voters because they did not include photo ID with their ballots. The state Board of Elections does not require these voters to submit photo ID.
Griffin is challenging voters who have never lived in North Carolina but are connected to the state through their parents.
Last year, the state Appeals Court rejected an appeal from the NC GOP and the Republican National Committee, which wanted elections officials to set aside ballots from some overseas voters and reject some of their registration forms. Republicans claimed that the Board of Elections allowed people living overseas who are ineligible to vote to register.
Riggs released a statement late Monday acknowledging the appeal by Griffin was expected following his loss in Superior Court last week.
“We’ve known this would be a long fight, and I remain committed to speaking up on behalf of the voters that Jefferson Griffin is seeking to disenfranchise,” her statement said. “As a constitutional officer, I swore an oath to defend our state and federal constitutions and the rule of law. I will continue to uphold my duty, including holding accountable any elected official who thwarts the will of voters.”