Federal Court Takes Jurisdiction Over Ballot Challenges Case

After losing the election, NC Supreme Court candidate Judge Jefferson Griffin last week continued his desperate attempt to reverse his loss by retroactively disqualifying 60,000 North Carolina voters. Thus far, this outrageous attack on the voting rights of tens of thousands of North Carolinians has been soundly rejected at every level.

Instead of filing in NC Superior Court his challenge to the State Board of Elections (SBOE) dismissal of his claims, the standard process for an elections appeal, Griffin filed a motion for extraordinary relief directly with the NC Supreme Court. However, the SBOE moved the case to federal court, on grounds that federal elections law forbids states from the kind of mass disqualifications sought by Griffin. 

Griffin then asked the US District Court Judge in charge of the case to issue a temporary restraining order blocking the SBOE from certifying Justice Riggs’ election. However, Judge Richard E. Myers II, an appointee of former President Trump, denied Griffin’s motion. 

Republicans Call for Stop to Ballot Challenges

Voting rights advocates, Democratic leaders, and even some Republican analysts have said it’s time for Griffin to drop his efforts to disenfranchise 60,000 voters after the election has been held, and to concede that he lost the race to Riggs. 

Andrew Dunn, a Republican analyst and past spokesperson for former NC Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest, calls Griffin’s efforts “political dynamite” and a “disaster” for the credibility of the state Republican Party. He adds that “this isn’t just some minor procedural squabble — it’s a huge risk that could threaten the future of conservatism in North Carolina. I’m not sure who’s leading the push here — but it needs to end now.” 

Pressure to Concede

The Voting rights group Common Cause calls Griffin’s attempt “shameful.” Governor-elect Josh Stein calls it “frivolous litigation” and says, “These voters, who are disproportionately African-American and young, include service members overseas, veterans, elected officials, and even Justice Riggs’ own parents and a member of my team who has lived and voted in North Carolina her entire life. No one disputes that these people are North Carolinians who are registered to vote and complied with our voter ID law.” 

NCLCV’s director of governmental relations Dan Crawford says bluntly, “As a judge, Jefferson Griffin should set the highest example of abiding by the law, rather than trying to twist it to steal an election he lost fair and square. It’s time for Jefferson Griffin to concede.”