With most of the provisional ballots now reviewed, the contest for a key seat on the NC Supreme Court is amazingly close and will likely be headed to a recount. The winner will determine whether or not that Supreme Court seat continues to be held by one of the Court’s members whose legal philosophy is favorable to science-based environmental rules and the protection of public health.

Counting of Provisional Ballots

After several days in which county boards of elections around North Carolina went through most of about 60,000 provisional ballots (ballots cast which were not deemed eligible without further review), more than 5.5 million votes have been counted in the race for the sole seat on the NC Supreme Court up for election this year. As of mid-day Monday, November 18, Associate Justice Allison Riggs leads by 66 votes out of 5,539,080 counted. That’s not a typo: sixty-six votes. 

New Photo ID Requirement

Many of the provisional ballots involved voters who did not bring the newly-required photo ID to the polls to cast their votes. Those voters had up to 10 days after election day to “cure” their provisional ballot by presenting an acceptable ID to their county Board of Elections. That deadline passed as of the end of business day last Thursday, November 15. As of mid-day Saturday, 91 out of 100 counties had completed their reviews and submitted their final results. The remaining nine counties are expected to do so this week, in time for the State Board of Elections to certify all results not subject to recount on November 26. 

If this contest remains separated by less than 10,000 votes, as seems nearly certain at this point, the trailing candidate has until noon this Tuesday, November 19, to request a recount. Incumbent Justice Allison Riggs was endorsed in this contest by the NC League of Conservation Voters (NCLCV) Conservation PAC.

Supreme Court’s Impact on Gerrymandering, Representation

Among other concerns, the outcome for this Supreme Court contest has profound implications for whether the next re-drawing of election district lines in North Carolina, after the 2030 census, continues to be made on the basis of extreme partisan gerrymandering. Judge Griffin would likely allow such gerrymandering. Justice Riggs supports the state constitution’s “free and fair elections” clause as restricting partisan gerrymandering. NCLCV believes that competitive elections are essential to the public’s ability to hold pro-polluter state lawmakers and members of Congress accountable for their votes.