NC County Rejects Election Protests In Supreme Court Race

The Democrat-run Wake County Board of Elections dismissed all three election protests brought by Judge Jefferson Griffin, the Republican candidate in the state’s Supreme Court race.

Griffin filed protests in numerous counties, pointing to deceased and felon voters as well as voters who are not residents of the state and those who have incomplete voter registrations. While deceased and felon voters would only affect a county-by-county vote count, the other two protests could have statewide impact.

Wake elections board external communications director Kate Maroney confirmed to The Federalist that all protests were dismissed by the board except for one voter on a list of felons, which the board sustained in a 3-2 vote. When asked for reasoning, Maroney was unsure, and no electronic recording was made of the meeting, another county staff member told The Federalist. Official minutes were recorded, and an official order was approved, but it is unknown when any of that documentation will be released.

Currently, Democrat incumbent Justice Allison Riggs is ahead statewide by just 734 votes. That number has remained the same after an initial recount of the race was completed Tuesday, showing both candidates losing 110 votes. On election night, Griffin was ahead of Riggs by 10,000 votes, until overseas and provisional ballot started trickling in, eventually giving Riggs her current lead.

However, Griffin filed protests that challenged over 60,000 ballots statewide.

Griffin and others protested the ballots of many individuals whose voter registrations were incomplete because they were not submitted with either a driver’s license or last four digits of a Social Security Number, as the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) requires. Griffin’s protest cites those requirements as enshrined in North Carolina law after HAVA passed.

Earlier this year, the Republican National Committee (RNC), joined by the state GOP, made similar arguments in a lawsuit regarding around 225,000 voters whose registrations were incomplete. The lawsuit argues that North Carolina failed to obtain the information for years, and that the state needed to cure the ballots or remove potential noncitizen voters who may have made it on the rolls. While one judge ruled against the RNC, litigation remains ongoing.

Another protest from Griffin argues that North Carolina improperly includes what are known as “never resided” overseas voters — voters who often have never lived in the United States, much less North Carolina, and never intend to — on its rolls.

Overseas voters make up tens of thousands of votes in North Carolina, and it is unclear how many qualify as “never resided,” but Griffin’s protest argues that state law allowing such voters to cast ballots runs afoul of the North Carolina constitution, which requires residency in order to register to vote.

The North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) announced Tuesday that a second recount will be conducted by all 100 counties, at the request of Griffin.

While the initial recount was done by machine, this recount will be what is known as a “partial hand-to-eye recount.”

“The sample hand-to-eye recount is designed to determine whether there are sufficient discrepancies from the machine recount to require a full hand-to-eye recount of all ballots cast in the contest,” a press release from the NCSBE stated.

In order to determine where the partial recount will take place, the NCSBE said it would randomly select precincts across the state.