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Democratic incumbent Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs and her Republican challenger, Judge Jefferson Griffin. (Courtesy photos)
Two Republican state Appeals Court judges on a three-judge panel agreed with their colleague that thousands of votes in his race for a seat on the state Supreme Court were improperly included in vote totals.
The 2-1 ruling gives GOP Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin a boost in his effort to unseat incumbent Democratic Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs. Riggs’ 734-vote lead was reaffirmed by two recounts. In his effort to win, Griffin wants more than 60,000 votes thrown out. He sued the state Board of Elections, claiming that counting those votes is against the law.
Republican Appeals Court Judges John Tyson and Fred Gore agreed with Griffin. They wrote that they could order those votes thrown out, but would give most voters the chance to fix deficiencies.
They ordered the state Board of Elections to notify voters of problems. Voters will have 15 business days once the Board sends the notices to “cure” deficiencies, either by providing a partial Social Security number or driver’s license number if those numbers are missing on their voter registration forms, or by providing the copy of a photo or a photo ID exemption form if they were military or overseas absentee voters.
Riggs said in a statement that she will appeal.
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“We will be promptly appealing this deeply misinformed decision that threatens to disenfranchise more than 65,000 lawful voters and sets a dangerous precedent, allowing disappointed politicians to thwart the will of the people,” Riggs said in a statement.
“North Carolinians elected me to keep my seat and I swore an oath to the constitution and the rule of law – so I will continue to stand up for the rights of voters in this state and stand in the way of those who would take power from the people.”
The next step will likely be an appeal to the seven-member state Supreme Court, where Republicans hold a 5-2 majority. Riggs has recused herself, and three of the Republican justices have already indicated support for Griffin’s arguments.
The state Republican Party said in a statement that the Court of Appeals vindicated Griffin’s election integrity protests.
“The decision and the order finally holds the NC State Board of Elections accountable for their actions and confirms every legal vote will be counted in this contest,” the NC GOP statement says.
“For months, Judge Griffin and the NCGOP have endured baseless and incendiary rhetoric in this matter. Throughout this time, our position has been consistent, when the debate is about the merits, Judge Griffin will prevail in his election integrity concerns.”
State Democratic Party chair Anderson Clayton issued a statement blasting the opinion.
“Today, Republican judges Tyson and Gore put party affiliation above the rights of North Carolina voters. In an unsigned, partisan decision, they legitimized Jefferson Griffin’s unconstitutional challenge to more than 66,000 voters, and held that those voters should be forced to comply with requirements that did not exist at the time of the election. Republicans are trying to change the rules because they lost the game,” said Clayton.
A lengthy dissent
The Democrat on the three-member panel, Judge Tobias Hampson, supported the election board’s decisions.
In a 66-page dissent, Hampson wrote that voters followed the rules they were given and had every expectation that their votes would count.
“Changing the rules by which these lawful voters took part in our electoral process after the election to discard their otherwise valid votes in an attempt to alter the outcome of only one race among many on the ballot is directly counter to law, equity, and the Constitution,” Hampson wrote.
Griffin is challenging three sets of ballots. He claims that more than 60,000 voters were not properly registered because they did not include either a partial Social Security number or driver’s license number on their forms. Voters Griffin is challenging have come forward in the past months to say they did provide that information, but it was excluded from the electronic voter file due to typos or data mismatches.
The court’s majority opinion said the state and county elections boards should have told voters that those numbers were missing.
“The Board and county boards failed in their duty to contact existing improperly registered voters whose electronic records omitted or did not show a driver’s license number or social security number to cure the information deficiency,” they wrote. Voters in this category will have 15 days once the election board notices go out to provide the information.
Military and overseas voters
Griffin is also challenging the votes of more than 5,500 military and overseas absentee voters because they did not provide voter ID with their ballots. These voters are from a handful of overwhelmingly Democratic counties. The state Board of Elections does not require military and overseas voters to submit a copy of their photo ID. Griffin’s lawyers say the elections board is wrong to exempt those absentee voters from the photo ID requirement. A lawyer for Riggs said during the Appeals Court hearing last month that no other state requires military and overseas absentee voters to provide ID, and the portals that most of those voters use don’t have a way to submit them. These voters will also have 15 days to provide a copy of an ID or a photo ID exemption form.
Lastly, Griffin is challenging a few hundred ballots from overseas absentee voters who have never lived in North Carolina, but who are connected to the state through their parents. The majority Appeals Court opinion said that these votes should be removed from the count because these voters do not have the right to vote in non-federal elections.
State Board of Elections statement on the Appeals Court decision, with advice for challenged voters
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Today, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued a decision in the election protest brought by state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin. The court’s decision may require the county boards of elections to contact voters whose voter registration forms did not include a driver’s license number or last four digits of a social security number, and to allow those voters to provide that information to their county board of elections, to ensure their votes for the supreme court contest count in the 2024 general election.
The court’s decision may also require the county boards of elections to contact military and overseas-citizen voters who used absentee ballots to provide a copy of their photo identification, to ensure their votes for the supreme court contest count in the 2024 general election. This protest does not affect these voters’ selections in any other contest on the ballot.
The court’s decision is not yet in effect and is likely to be appealed. If the court’s decision does go into effect, the State Board of Elections will provide instructions to affected voters on how to comply with the court’s decision.
Regardless of the ultimate outcome of this ongoing legal dispute, any voter who is concerned that their voter registration information is incomplete or is not up to date should submit an updated voter registration form. Submitting an updated voter registration form is easy. Any voter who has a license from the DMV can go to payments.ncdot.gov to fill out a voter registration application. If you’re already registered, submitting this information will merely update your existing voter registration. You don’t need to create a special account with the DMV. You can select “Continue as Guest” on the DMV’s website and proceed directly to submitting your voter registration.
If you don’t have a license from the DMV, you can download a voter registration form at ncsbe.gov/registering, and then print, sign, and submit that paper form to your county board of elections. Contact and address information for the 100 county boards of elections is available here: https://vt.ncsbe.gov/BOEInfo/.
The State Board will provide updated information as this legal dispute develops.