Pirate's Cove

This has made Democrats, including WRAL, very unhappy

Republican Jefferson Griffin wins NC appeals court challenge in case contesting 65K ballots

Thousands of North Carolina voters could soon have their 2024 ballots thrown out, the state Court of Appeals ruled Friday in a case that could flip to Republicans another seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court months after the November election.

If the ruling stands, the State Board of Elections would be required to ask more than 60,000 voters to provide proof of their identity. Anyone who doesn’t respond will have their ballot thrown out — an outcome that could tilt the narrow race for the high-court seat in favor of the Republican candidate, Jefferson Griffin, who challenged the ballots.

The 2-1 ruling, which came down along party lines, also identified several hundred voters who it said should have their ballots thrown out no matter what, based on a new interpretation of the state constitution.

Griffin, who is a judge on the Court of Appeals, challenged Democratic incumbent Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs for her seat on the high court in the 2024 election. Recounts showed that Riggs received 734 more votes than Griffin. But the winner of the race hasn’t been made official, while Griffin challenges the voters’ registration and the validity of their ballots.

The biggest group of the more than 60,000 voters Griffin is challenging are those who he says lack identifying information in a state database that’s supposed to collect the driver’s license number or Social Security number of voters when they register.

In other words, thees are people who, at least for the moment, cannot prove they are who they are.

(CBS17) “North Carolina Democrats WILL fight this decision. But make no mistake, the statewide court of appeals bench has cowered to political pressure and corruption from their own party. The NCGOP and RNC are trying to steal an election and test the waters for future election denial,” said Anderson Clayton, Chair of the NC Democratic Party, on Twitter.

“This decision ultimately will be appealed to the North Carolina Supreme Court now. Where Republicans maintain a 5-2 majority. (And since Justice Riggs recused herself, it’s a 5-1 majority.) NC voters will see just how corrupt the State Supreme Court when they rule on this case,” her tweet said.

And, maybe enough of the people will respond and Riggs will still win. But, Democrats are very unhappy when anyone challenges their shadiness. Obviously, the Raleigh News and Observer editorial board is already out with their whining

In a stunning decision that changes the rules of an election after that election has occurred, the court ruled that the vast majority of the votes in question must be recounted and verified, and voters will be given 15 days to “cure” their ballots by providing documentation to verify their identities.

The ruling creates a dangerous precedent for overturning an election result that the loser simply doesn’t like.

I don’t remember the N&O saying the same when Al Gore was trying to overturn the 2000 election, or the Democrats were trying to overturn the 2004 election in favor of John Kerry. Nor did they complain about all the shenanigans during the 2020 election.