North Carolina Supreme Court blocks state from certifying Democrat as winner in top court race

The North Carolina Supreme Court voted to block the certification of Democratic Justice Allison Riggs as the winner of her state Supreme Court race while her GOP opponent challenges the legitimacy of certain ballots.

The 5-1 ruling from the court on Tuesday places a temporary stay on the state elections board from declaring Riggs the winner over Republican Jefferson Griffin, a judge on the state Court of Appeals. The five-justice Republican majority voted to grant the stay, while Democratic Justice Anita Earls dissented. Riggs had recused herself from the case.

The elections board had been set to certify Riggs as the winner in one of the country's closest races after the initial vote count had her ahead by 734 votes out of more than 5.5 million cast. A recount confirmed that margin, and a second one partially done by hand slightly expanded her lead.

But Griffin has been challenging the validity of 60,000 votes cast in the race, arguing these voters’ registration forms were incomplete because they didn’t include a Social Security or driver’s license number.

The state Supreme Court set a schedule for Griffin’s campaign and the elections board to submit briefs in the case, with Griffin ordered to submit his argument by Jan. 14. The board must reply with its own brief by Jan. 21, and Griffin must respond to that by Jan. 24.

North Carolina Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton said last month she was “absolutely” concerned the state Supreme Court could overturn the results of the race. She argued at the time that many of the voters whose registrations were being challenged may not have been notified of any missing information because no challenges to their validity had previously been made.

Earls argued in her dissent Tuesday that she would not have granted the stay because the complaint from Griffin has “no likelihood of success on the merits” and the court should not interfere with democratic processes.

The Hill has reached out to Riggs's and Griffin's campaigns for comment.

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