RALEIGH, N.C. — Election officials in North Carolina have decided against conducting another recount in a closely contested state Supreme Court election. This decision follows a partial hand recount that indicated the Republican candidate unlikely to surpass the Democratic incumbent.
Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs maintained a 734-vote advantage over Republican Jefferson Griffin, a current state Court of Appeals judge, after a machine recount of over 5.5 million ballots last week. Subsequently, Griffin requested a partial hand recount that involved reexamining a sample of ballots from 3% of the voting locations across all 100 counties.
State law stipulates that if the sample results suggested a reversal of the outcome when extrapolated to all ballots, a statewide hand recount would be mandated. However, the findings from the sample recount, completed on Tuesday, indicated that Riggs gained additional votes compared to Griffin. Thus, the State Board of Elections announced there will be no full recount.
Despite this, the electoral situation remains unsettled. A five-member state board was set to review arguments on protests filed by Griffin and three GOP legislative candidates who are also involved in tightly contested races. Riggs reaffirmed her victory on Tuesday and her campaign urged Griffin to concede, though Griffin had not yet provided a comment on the matter.
The protests directed at the state board challenge the eligibility of more than 60,000 ballots across three distinct voting categories. These categories include ballots cast by individuals with voter registration files lacking driver’s licenses or partial Social Security numbers, ballots from overseas voters who have never resided in North Carolina but whose parents are considered state residents, and ballots from military or overseas voters who failed to include photo ID copies with their submissions.
Additionally, a panel of the Court of Appeals dismissed Griffin’s request to compel the state board to address these protests before its Wednesday meeting in order to expedite the proceedings. The state board retains the authority to either reject the protests or, should irregularities be uncovered, to mandate revised ballot counts, additional recounts, or even new elections. Decisions made by the board, which has a 3-2 Democratic majority, are subject to appeal in state courts. Other protests lodged by Griffin and some legislative candidates are currently under consideration by local county boards.
In a separate matter, the state Democratic Party initiated a federal lawsuit last week aimed at preventing the State Board of Elections from making any decisions that could invalidate the contested ballots. According to Democratic legal counsel, federal regulations prohibit substantial challenges to voter eligibility for a completed election. Some issues raised in the protests were matters that Republicans had previously litigated prior to the November election.
Democratic representatives and allies held a press conference outside the state Supreme Court building earlier on Tuesday, harshly criticizing Griffin and other Republicans for pursuing claims they argue could disenfranchise lawful voters. North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton expressed concern that the state Supreme Court might ultimately align with Republican positions and discard the contested ballots.
“We are making every effort to ensure that voices are heard and that we file lawsuits when necessary,” Clayton remarked. “We trust the election officials to fulfill their duties and ensure every vote is counted.”
Initially, Griffin led Riggs by approximately 10,000 votes on election night; however, as provisional and absentee ballots were accounted for, his advantage narrowed and ultimately shifted in favor of Riggs. Other types of protests from Griffin and the legislative candidates are still being assessed by county boards.
As of now, the Supreme Court race and two of the highlighted legislative races remain uncalled. In one of these races, Republican state Representative Frank Sossamon is trailing behind his Democratic opponent Bryan Cohn. Should Cohn win, it would result in Republicans losing a seat and falling short of maintaining their current veto-proof majority starting next month.
