North Carolina Court Decision Could Reverse Outcome of Supreme Court Election

A panel of judges from a North Carolina Appeals Court ruled today that a group of 65,000 challenged votes will be tossed if the voters don’t cure their ballots within 15 days. That could upend the race in which incumbent North Carolina Supreme Court Judge Allison Riggs, a Democrat, narrowly defeated challenger Jefferson Griffin, a Republican, by fewer than 1,000 votes. 

In the ruling, the Republican majority involved in the decision ordered that a group of more than 65,000 voters, whose eligibility was challenged by Republican Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin and his lawyers, now have 15 business days to provide state elections officials with the necessary proof of identity that would verify their votes. The court ruled that any voters who don’t respond will not have their votes counted in the race between Griffin and Democrat Allison Riggs, which is still caught in legal battling five months after Election Day…

The latest decision overturns a ruling by a lower state court from February that had effectively dismissed the case.

In a statement, Riggs said her campaign would appeal the ruling. Doing so is all but certain to put the case before the North Carolina state Supreme Court — the same bench whose seat is at stake in the case. Republicans currently have a 5-2 majority on that court.

The decision issued today applies to voters who are believed to have sided primarily with the incumbent Democrat, meaning that if this ruling stands it would likely change the outcome of the race.

The disputed ballots are believed to favor Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs, who, after two recounts, held a 734-vote lead over Republican Jefferson Griffin in their race, which saw over 5.5 million ballots cast…

The prevailing opinion declares that the board should have found that ballots from within each of the three categories shouldn’t be counted because they failed to comply with state law or the state constitution. The decision also reverses the decision of a trial judge who upheld the board’s actions in February.

“Free elections under … the North Carolina Constitution include the right to an accurate counting of votes,” said the opinion backed by Judges John Tyson and Fred Gore, both registered Republicans. “Griffin has a legal right to inquire into this outcome through the statutorily enacted and post-election procedures available to him.”

Here’s Judge Riggs’ reaction to the decision.

pic.twitter.com/g52nQoygbM

— Allison Riggs (@AllisonJRiggs) April 4, 2025

She also released a fundraising video about the case earlier this week.

Though our case was heard by the NC Court of Appeals this month, the fight to protect over 65,000 North Carolinians’ lawful ballots is far from over. I’ve been fighting for my entire career to protect the right to vote, and I won’t stop now. Join me at https://t.co/5pj5MBuFf7 pic.twitter.com/CiGICeyw3I

— Allison Riggs (@AllisonJRiggs) April 1, 2025

Today’s decision by a 2-1 panel of the Appeals Court had one dissenter:

In a dissent on Friday, Judge Toby Hampson calls out the majority for its “mass disenfranchisement” and criticizes Griffin for trying “to retroactively change the rules which applied to the election in hopes those changes will alter the result and lead to [Griffin’s] being judicially declared the winner of an election he would otherwise lose.” Hampson notes that “every single voter” challenged by Griffin followed the rules.

So it looks like this will be appealed to the state Supreme Court and Riggs will need to recuse herself, meaning there will be a 5-1 Republican majority deciding the case. However, if she loses there, Riggs has suggested she could also appeal in federal court. All that to say, this case has already dragged on for 5 months since the election and it could be several more before the outcome is settled, one way or the other.