Elections 2024

In a Victory For Voters

Federal Court Blocks GOP Effort to Overturn North Carolina Supreme Court Election

(Democracy Docket)

In a victory for voters, a federal court has halted Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin’s efforts to overturn an election and disenfranchise thousands of voters. A federal judge has ordered the state to certify Democratic Justice Allison Riggs’ victory.

The decision comes exactly six months after Election Day and was handed down by a judge appointed by President Donald Trump.

Griffin tried to disqualify ballots from overseas military voters and U.S. citizens born abroad who voted under long-standing state law. The North Carolina Supreme Court and North Carolina Court of Appeals initially ruled that those voters must cure their ballots by providing photo ID after the fact, or their votes would not count. The federal court has now ruled that changing the rules after the election was unconstitutional.

Judge Richard E. Myers II, a Trump appointee, ruled that the process violated equal protection because it treated some voters differently than others in the same situation.

“The cure process offends equal protection principles because it treats overseas military and civilian voters casting ballots in certain counties differently than others who are identically situated,” the court ruled, finding the process to be “inconsistent with the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment” and therefore could not proceed.

The court has ordered North Carolina to finalize the results based on the original vote count, securing Justice Riggs’ seat on the State Supreme Court.

The Griffin campaign has told a reporter it is “reviewing the order and evaluating next steps.”

“Permitting parties to ”upend the set rules” of an election after the election has taken place can only produce “confusion and turmoil [which] threatens to undermine public confidence in the federal courts, state agencies, and the elections themselves,” the judge ruled.

US Chief District Judge Richard Myers placed a one-week hold on his decision to give Griffin time to appeal.

Federal judge rules for Riggs, orders her certified as NC Supreme Court winner

(North Carolina Journal)

A federal judge has ordered the North Carolina State Board of Elections to certify Democrat Allison Riggs as the winner of the 2024 state Supreme Court election. The decision rejects ballot challenges from Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin.

US Chief District Judge Richard Myers placed a one-week hold on his decision to give Griffin time to appeal.

Myers rejected a state Supreme Court decision in April that placed at least 1,675 and as many as 5,700 ballots from the fall election in question. The state’s highest court endorsed a ballot “cure” process to deal with the disputed ballots.

Most of those ballots were tied to overseas voters who provided no photo identification. A smaller number involved “never residents” who had checked a box on a voter form indicating they had never lived in North Carolina or the United States.

Myers’ decision preserves Riggs’ 734-vote lead over Griffin out of more than 5.5 million ballots cast last fall.

“IT IS ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the 1. Retroactive invalidation of absentee ballots cast by overseas military and civilian voters violates those voters’ substantive due process rights; 2. The cure process violates the equal protection rights of overseas military and civilian voters; and 3. The lack of any notice or opportunity for eligible voters to contest their mistaken designation as Never Residents violates procedural due process and represents an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote,” Myers wrote.

“IT IS FURTHER ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED that the State Board SHALL NOT take any action in furtherance of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court’s orders,” Myers added.

“The State Board SHALL certify the results of the election … based on the tally at the completion of the canvassing period on December 10, 2024,” Myers wrote, confirming Riggs’ lead.

Riggs is an appointed incumbent state Supreme Court justice. Griffin is a state Appeals Court judge.

Griffin challenged more than 65,000 ballots counted in the final tally from Nov 5. A January order from Riggs’ state Supreme Court colleagues blocked the elections board from declaring Riggs as the winner. The state Supreme Court’s April order allowed more than 60,000 of those ballots to remain in the vote count. Those ballots were tied to voters who appeared to have incomplete registration records.

Riggs, the elections board, the state Democratic Party, and other outside groups urged Myers to rule that federal law prevents election officials from tossing any votes at this stage in the electoral process. Meanwhile, Griffin called on Myers to allow the state Supreme Court’s decision to stand.

Riggs’ lawyers urged Myers not to let the “volume of filings” in the case distract him from the “straightforward questions” he must address.

“Changing the election rules after the votes have been cast and counted is wrong and unconstitutional,” Riggs’ lawyers wrote. “So too is targeting military and overseas voters who happened to register in a Democratic-leaning county.”

“Judge Griffin wants to avoid those common-sense principles of federal law,” the brief continued. “But he must confront them. He cannot overturn his election loss without convincing a court that federal law permits retroactive, selective changes to the voting rules. The North Carolina courts did not decide those federal questions because this Court retained jurisdiction over them. Those questions are now for this Court to decide.”

“This Court should stop this dangerous effort to undermine the will of the people,” Riggs’ lawyers added.

Though the dispute is now six months old, state Supreme Court operations have not been affected. Riggs continues to serve on the court and participate in its arguments and decisions.

Griffin continues to serve on the Appeals Court.

Wowser!

Full ruling here.

Score one for the rule of law.  Yes, Griffin can still appeal, but it seems very unlikely that he could prevail.

Big Win in North Carolina!Post + Comments (34)