Though rulings from both the North Carolina Court of Appeals and the state’s highest court last month were, on balance, in his favor, the Republican candidate in the 2024 NC Supreme Court race conceded Wednesday, ending a months-long court battle.
Citing a Monday ruling by a federal judge that took issue with the NC Supreme Court’s ruling and which ordered the State Board of Elections to certify Democrat Justice Allison Riggs’ 734-vote lead, barring an appeal within seven days, NC Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin announced he would not appeal the decision:
“While I do not fully agree with the District Court’s analysis, I respect the court’s holding — just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case,” Griffin said in a statement from his campaign. “I will not appeal the court’s decision.”“This effort has always been about upholding the rule of law and making sure that every legal vote in an election is counted,” Griffin wrote.“I am thankful that our Supreme Court affirmed the holding from our Court of Appeals, recognizing that the North Carolina State Board of Elections failed to follow our Constitution and the laws enacted by our General Assembly,” Griffin added. “The courts have affirmed that Voter ID is required for all absentee ballots and that you must be a resident of North Carolina to vote in North Carolina elections. These holdings are very significant for securing our state’s elections.”
Though Griffin could have appealed, he would have had to do so before a left-leaning court that had previously rejected his challenges: The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Though this case has been batted around in both state and federal courts since December, at times concurrently, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Myers from the Eastern District of NC – a Trump appointee – effectively put the brakes on Griffin’s challenges Monday on due process and equal protection grounds:
“IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the 1. Retroactive invalidation of absentee ballots cast by overseas military and civilian voters violates those voters’ substantive due process rights; 2. The cure process violates the equal protection rights of overseas military and civilian voters; and 3. The lack of any notice or opportunity for eligible voters to contest their mistaken designation as Never Residents violates procedural due process and represents an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote,” Myers wrote.“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the State Board SHALL NOT take any action in furtherance of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court’s orders,” Myers added.“The State Board SHALL certify the results of the election … based on the tally at the completion of the canvassing period on December 10, 2024,” Myers wrote, confirming Riggs’ lead.
Though one of Griffin’s chief arguments was that the Democrat-controlled State Board of Elections’ interpretations of state election law had run afoul of state law and the state constitution, Myers’ argument in a nutshell seemed to be that Griffin was trying to change the election rules after the election had been held.
“You don’t change them after the game is done,” he said in his ruling, where he also expressed concern about the “public confidence” in the judicial and election processes, respectively, should Griffin prevail.
Initially, Griffin had challenged the validity of around 65,000 ballots, claiming the lion’s share of them lacked the necessary voter registration information and/or photo ID. The photo ID issue was related to overseas/military ballots, including “Never Residents” who have never lived in North Carolina.
The NC Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision on April 4th that Griffin’s challenges were valid. The State Board of Elections was to notify county boards of election to inform impacted voters whose registration info was incomplete or who did not include photo IDs that they had 15 business days to get things corrected and verified, or their votes would not count. They also ordered the 267 “Never Residents” votes to be tossed, “because they’re ineligible under state residency laws.”
After that ruling, Riggs and the state elections board petitioned the NC Supreme Court for a temporary stay, which was granted, and a review of the Appeals Court’s ruling. The NC Supreme Court then narrowed the challenges down to the “Never Resident” ballots, which they agreed should be thrown out, and roughly 5,500 overseas ballots, ruling that they be cured within 30 days or be tossed out, a decision which brought us to where we are today.
Though this is obviously not what Griffin nor the NCGOP wanted, there are some silver linings.
With a newly-installed (as of this week) GOP-controlled State Board of Elections, Myers not touching the NC Court of Appeals’ interpretations of state election laws in his ruling potentially could lead to updates and clarifications to board of election databases and state election laws on voter registration information and photo ID requirements, all of which would increase election security.
Riggs’ victory will be officially certified on May 13th, according to the State Board of Elections.
-Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter/X.-
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