In response to the North Carolina Supreme Court race carrying on for four months — despite having a clear winner — DNC Vice Chair for Civic Engagement and Voter Participation Reyna Walters-Morgan released the following statement: 

“Four months have passed since Election Day, and there’s still no end to Jefferson Griffin’s desperate attempts to seize power from rightfully elected Justice Allison Riggs. Instead of conceding, Griffin continues to waste taxpayer dollars from hardworking North Carolinians as he desperately tries to cling to his baseless efforts to silence them, including North Carolinians serving overseas in the military. Two independent recounts, the State Board of Elections, and the Wake County Superior Court have found that Griffin’s claims are baseless. It’s past time for Griffin to stop making a mockery of democracy and concede. ​​Voters, not politicians, decide elections — and North Carolinians elected Justice Riggs.”

REMINDER: Since Election Day, Jefferson Griffin and North Carolina Republicans have attempted to disqualify over 60,000 ballots and overturn Justice Allison Riggs’ victory in their relentless pursuit of power. 

New York Times: “This Race Was Decided by 734 Votes. The G.O.P. Wants to Disqualify 60,000 Ballots.”

“A lengthy recount of more than 5.5 million ballots from the November election that ended last week showed that an incumbent Democrat on North Carolina’s state Supreme Court, Allison Riggs, held a 734-vote edge over Jefferson G. Griffin, a Republican judge on the state Court of Appeals.

“Judge Griffin has not given up. He is protesting the results of the entire election to the State Board of Elections, arguing that many voters were ineligible to cast ballots. …

“Judge Griffin’s protest argues that voters whose registration forms have no numbers should not count in this election. Among those voters are Ms. Riggs’s parents.”

NBC News: “GOP-controlled N.C. Supreme Court blocks certification of Democrat as winner of close high court race”

“In a 4-2 vote, all but one of the Republicans on the state Supreme court ruled to prevent the North Carolina State Board of Elections from certifying the results of the race, where Democratic Justice Allison Riggs holds a 734-vote lead over Republican Jefferson Griffin.”

Democracy Docket: “The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that a district court correctly sent back to state court a lawsuit from GOP North Carolina Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin contesting his 2024 election loss to incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs. …

“Tuesday’s ruling — which is sure to delay a final resolution of the matter — comes as the procedural posture of Griffin’s legal disputes seeking to throw out over 60,000 ballots has become increasingly more complex.”

Slate: “The North Carolina GOP’s Latest Ploy to Steal a State Supreme Court Seat”

“Griffin argues that some votes shouldn’t count because of voter registration forms that didn’t include a Social Security or state ID number, as federal law requires. But he disregards other provisions of the law that say a voter can also provide an ID number or identifying document when they vote. The state elections board voted unanimously (Republicans and Democrats) to keep these voters on the rolls.

“In fact, a federal judge appointed by President-elect Donald Trump rejected this argument before the election. And he warned that a ruling to bar hundreds of thousands of people from voting, just days before the election, would ‘significantly alter the allocation of power … away from a democratic form of government.’ The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld this decision. …

“The GOP majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court is possibly the most partisan high-court majority in the country. One justice, Phil Berger Jr., has repeatedly heard lawsuits against his father, Senate leader Phil Berger, and ruled in his favor. The chief justice has made multiple contributions to nonjudicial Republican candidates, another flagrant violation of ethics rules. And Justice Tamara Barringer is herself a former GOP legislator. These justices have rubber-stamped the Republican Legislature’s voter suppression, upended early voting to help Trump’s presidential campaign, and legalized gerrymandering—a ruling that handed control of Congress to the GOP in this year’s election.”

Despite multiple recounts confirming Justice Riggs’ electoral lead, the state Board of Elections dismissing Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin’s previous protests as “anathema to the democratic system,” and the Wake County Superior Court finding Griffin’s claims baseless, Griffin refuses to concede. 

News & Observer: “The State Board of Elections, voting mostly along party lines, agreed with Riggs and dismissed all of Griffin’s protests last week. 

“‘The idea that someone could have been registered to vote, came to vote and then has their vote discarded is anathema to the democratic system and simply cannot be tolerated,’ Board Chair Alan Hirsch, a Democrat, said. 

“The majority of Griffin’s protests revolve not around specific allegations of fraud, but rather legal arguments about voter eligibility which have so far been rejected by state and federal courts.”

News & Observer: “A Wake County Superior Court judge on Friday rejected Republican Jefferson Griffin’s attempt to throw out 65,000 ballots cast in November’s Supreme Court election. 

“Affirming the decision of the State Board of Elections, which dismissed all of Griffin’s protests in December, Judge William Pittman wrote that 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 any other error of law.’”