A Republican judge is seeking to have 60,000 ballots thrown out after narrowly losing his race for a seat in the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Judge Jefferson Griffin is seeking to have the result overturned after Democratic incumbent Judge Allison Riggs beat him by just 734 votes.
Newsweek has reached out to Griffin and Riggs via email outside of normal working hours for comment.
Why It Matters
Recent polling data indicates that Americans have concerns about voter fraud, voter suppression, and the potential overturning of election results.
A YouGov poll conducted in October, 2024, revealed that 27 percent of Americans believed a civil war could erupt following the 2024 presidential election, while a nationwide NPR/PBS News/Marist poll from October 2024 found that 58 percent of Americans were concerned about voter fraud in the November polls.
This concern was pronounced among supporters of President-elect Donald Trump, with 88 percent expressing apprehension, compared to 29 percent of supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris.
What To Know
Before the latest presidential election, a group of election skeptics based in North Carolina reportedly joined a phone call to discussed actions that could be taken if they doubted election results, according to ProPublica.
The investigative journalism site reported that during this call, one of the ideas floated was to try to get courts, or the state election board to throw out ballots which are missing voter registration details such as the last four digits of a Social Security number and a driver's license number.
This measure would throw out hundreds of thousands ballots, ProPublica reported, and the move is at the center of Griffin's challenge.
The claim that ballots lacking voter registration details should be invalidated has been criticized as "voter suppression," and dismissed in previous cases.
ProPublica reported that state election officials have previously found that missing information on a voter registration is not itself disqualifying, as there a number of valid reasons for state databases to lack these details.
These reasons include voters registering before state paperwork was updated. In addition, voters still need to prove their identity when casting a ballot.
Before the election, a Trump-appointed judge denied a similar attempt on the same grounds by the Republican National Committee to remove more than 200,000 voters from the rolls.
The petition made by Griffin will in effect ask a court to let him allow ballots to be thrown out, without proving that voters had knowingly done wrong, according to ProPublica.
What People Are Saying
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Judge Allison Riggs said that: "I'll continue to work to ensure that every valid vote counts in this election. These more than 60,000 challenged voters are our neighbors, our friends, and our family members. I took a solemn oath to defend our freedoms, and I'll never compromise my duty to abide by it."
Judge Jefferson Griffin has not spoken publicly about the case, and the challenge.
What's Next
Though there is no proof of fraud, the challenge is now in federal court, and it may go to the supreme court.
Do you have a story Newsweek should be covering? Do you have any questions about this story? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.
English (US) ·