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Rally in Raleigh protesting Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin's challenge of more than 60,000 votes in the NC Supreme Court race. (Photo: Lynn Bonner)
The challenge of more than 60,000 votes in the state Supreme Court race is a threat to democracy that could serve as a model to other losing politicians who want to reverse their defeats at the ballot box, speakers at a Monday rally said.
Republican Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin wants more than 60,000 votes thrown out in his effort to unseat incumbent Democratic Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs. She leads by 734 votes and has maintained the lead through two recounts.
Dawn Blagrove, executive director of Emancipate NC, called the effort to throw out votes “the canary in the coal mine.”
“If we allow them to steal this election, no election will be safe,” she said.
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The North Carolina Republican Party, which is supporting Griffin, says the vote challenge is a matter of election integrity. The GOP blames the state Board of Elections for allowing illegal ballots to count.
The race remains unresolved. The Board of Elections rejected his election protests. Griffin is suing the Board. A trial court judge ruled against Griffin earlier this month, saying the Board did nothing wrong. Griffin has appealed.
Hundreds of people attended the Monday rally outside the state Capitol in Raleigh. It was one of more than a dozen rallies Common Cause NC organized for cities and towns across the state this month.
Each mention of Griffin’s name drew a chorus of boos.
But Caitlin Swain, co-director of Forward Justice, said the issue was not about two candidates but about “people standing up for democracy.”
“An election is over,” she said. “It’s time to concede. The people have spoken. The courts have spoken. And it is time that we turn the page on this coup attempt.”
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.
Jenna Marrocco, 27, of Wake County, said she voted for the first time last year. She registered to vote as a college student. She had to update her registration with a new address last year. She did so during the early voting period, bringing her Real ID driver’s license and a utility bill to the polls.
“Everything went smoothly,” she said. “So, you can image why I was shocked to find my name on this list, because I knew that I had done everything right. This list is telling me that even if you follow the rules, even if you do everything right, even if you try to make a difference, they will still try to tell you your vote doesn’t count,” she said.
“If we let this happen here, if we let them get away with it even this once, this is exactly what every corrupt politician will try to do when they lose. If they know that they can just challenge election results by making up new rules after the election, what stops them from doing it every time? What stops them from deciding whose vote should count based on what benefits them? This is bigger than just this election.”
Griffin is also 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.
Additionally, he is challenging a few hundred voters who have never lived in North Carolina but are connected to the state through their parents.
After state courts finish with the case, any decision is likely to be appealed to federal court.