North Carolina Supreme Court candidate seeks to disqualify 60,000 voters — including his opponent's parents

In an effort to overturn the results of November's election, Jefferson Griffin, a Republican candidate for the North Carolina Supreme Court, is asking state election officials to throw out more than 60,000 ballots. Among the voters being targeted by Griffin's protest are the parents of his Democratic opponent, Allison Riggs.

The contest between Griffin and Riggs was very close. The initial count showed Riggs with a lead of 734 votes out of 5.5 million cast. Griffin then exercised his legal right to request a machine recount of all ballots. After that recount, Riggs was still ahead by the same margin. Griffin has now requested a second recount of the ballots, this time by hand. Under North Carolina's procedures, there will first be a hand recount of 3% of the ballots cast. If the North Carolina Election Board determines that the partial hand recount revealed a sufficient number of discrepancies to suggest the outcome could change, a full hand recount will take place.

There is nothing particularly unusual about requesting recounts in close elections. But Griffin is also taking a page out of President-elect Donald Trump's playbook and claiming that tens of thousands of votes were cast illegally. Griffin's campaign sent postcards to the voters whose ballots it is seeking to invalidate, alerting them of the protest. Popular Information obtained a photo of one of the postcards:

Riggs' campaign says the "postcards have sowed confusion, anger, and frustration among voters who cast their ballots in good faith to make their voices heard." Among those receiving a postcard notifying them that their vote was under protest were Riggs' parents.

Most of the challenges, including the challenges to the votes cast by Riggs' parents, are related to claims that voter registrations are invalid because they do not contain a driver's license or partial Social Security number. A federal law enacted in 2002 required this information to be collected on voter registration forms. But some North Carolina voters may have registered before the law went into effect. The lack of that information in a North Carolina voter database does not invalidate a ballot.

There are many other reasons a North Carolina voter's record may lack this information, including "clerical error from a county election official who did not enter that information in the system even though it was included on the physical form." Further, one form used in the state, which has since been updated, did not make it clear that voters should provide the information when registering. Regardless, registered voters in North Carolina were required to provide identification before voting.

A federal judge appointed by Trump rejected a similar effort to kick these voters off the rolls before Election Day. Now, Griffin's campaign is recycling these arguments after the election is complete to overturn the results.

Many eligible North Carolina voters have been caught in Griffin's dragnet and had their votes questioned. One was Anna Richards, an elected member of the Orange County Board of County Commissioners in North Carolina. Richards shared her story on X:

The struggle of voting rights and the legacy of barriers to voting was a reality for my parents and grandparents. Honoring the privilege of voting is an obligation and homage to my ancestors. I relocated to Chapel Hill in 2013. As has been the case in every state I’ve lived in, I registered to vote in NC in 2014. I served as President of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP. In 2021, I was unanimously appointed to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners. In 2022, I was elected District 1 Commissioner by Orange County voters. As commissioner, I have supported numerous initiatives aimed to ensure equal opportunity for all citizens. I feel violated and betrayed by any suggestion that my ballot won’t count. I know that my registration is accurate and will not stand for this accusation of illegitimacy. I stand by my registration - my vote must be counted!

Other North Carolina voters are sharing similar stories.

Griffin is challenging a smaller number of votes his campaign claims were cast by deceased people or those serving felony sentences. The Wake County Board of Elections reviewed many of these challenges during an all-day meeting on Monday. The board "flagged one voter who may have been ineligible because of his criminal history, but dismissed many of Griffin’s other protests after finding they were inaccurate or that his claims lacked sufficient evidence." The North Carolina Board of Elections will rule on the challenges related to allegedly incomplete voter registration forms and other issues in the coming days.