The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled April 4 that over 65,000 votes casted in the 2024 state supreme court race need to be verified. Democrat incumbent Allison Riggs only won the race by 734 votes — after two previous recounts — meaning that the result of the election could change.
The North Carolina Court of Appeals sided with Republican Jefferson Griffin 2-1, who challenged the ballots in November, claiming that over 65,000 ballots shouldn’t be included in the results because they failed to comply with the state law or the state constitution. This ruling means the North Carolina Board of Elections will ask the contested voters to provide proof of identity within 15 days of being notified in order for their vote to count.
Griffin also serves on the state Court of Appeals and recused himself from the case deliberations. Currently, with Riggs in office, the court has a 5-2 conservative majority.
He challenged these ballots for multiple reasons. The claim that affected the most ballots was individuals whose registration records lacked a driver’s license number or last four digits of their social security number. He also challenged overseas voters who did not provide copies of photo identification with their ballots, as photo ID is required to vote in the state.