A federal judge on Monday said the dispute over who won a seat on North Carolina’s state Supreme Court should be handled in state court — a boost for Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin, who trails Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs by 734 votes out of more than 5.5 million cast.
Griffin and the GOP are challenging 60,000 votes from the November election. Their biggest complaint is that many of those voter’s registrations don’t have a required driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number on file.
The problem stemmed from voter registration forms that were confusing, causing some voters to think that information wasn’t required. Their registrations were accepted. The list of challenged voters includes many who have voted without incident for years, including Riggs’ parents in Durham County.
The state Board of Elections, which has a Democratic majority, has denied Griffin’s request to further investigate those ballots.
Federal Judge Richard Myers, a Trump appointee, said in his Monday ruling that it made sense for the state to handle the dispute.
He wrote: “Should a federal tribunal resolve such a dispute? This court, with due regard for state sovereignty and the independence of states to decide matters of substantial public concern, thinks not.”
Griffin has asked the North Carolina Supreme Court to consider his challenge immediately, bypassing Wake County Superior Court and appellate courts. That would put his challenge in front of a potentially friendly panel of justices.
The state’s highest court has a 5-2 Republican majority. Riggs has said she will recuse herself, which means there will only be one Democrat considering the challenge.
The deadline for the state to certify a winner is Friday.
Riggs has called on Griffin to concede. The state has recounted ballots twice: one full machine recount of all ballots cast, and one hand recount of a sample of ballots from each county. Neither recount changed the result of Riggs' apparent razor-thin victory.
