North Carolina’s state Supreme Court ruled Friday that the majority of ballots cast in the 2024 election must be counted despite missing information, The Hill reported. The 4-2 ruling is a blow to the GOP candidate's challenge to the election but could still sway it in his favor.
The case centers on nearly 60,000 ballots cast in the race for Supreme Court justice in the state. The Republican candidate, Justice Jefferson Griffin, was only a few hundred votes behind Democratic Justice Allison Riggs in the November 2024 race.
Thousands of ballots were submitted without required information, such as driver's license numbers and Social Security numbers, in the extremely close race. A lower court had determined that ballots missing key identifiers should be thrown out altogether.
While the state Supreme Court technically ruled in favor of the Democrat, this decision could help Griffin. The voters who cast the ballots must provide the missing information to identify themselves, or their votes will not count.
The high court found that problems with registrations shouldn't disenfranchise voters. "Under this Court’s longstanding precedent, mistakes made by negligent election officials in registering citizens who are otherwise eligible to vote will not deprive the citizens of their right to vote or render their vote void after they have been cast," the court's decision said.
Still, Michael Purser, director of data science at Decision Desk HQ, described the scenario that would give the race to Griffin. "Friday afternoon, the North Carolina Supreme Court struck a blow to Justice Allison Riggs, paving the way for challenger Jefferson Griffin to eventually win November's election (in June)," Pruser posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Saturday.
He noted that voters, including military personnel serving overseas via the Uniformed And Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, "would be given 30 calendar days to do so or have their ballots thrown out." Pruser also noted that the appeals court directed a subset of these ballots to be thrown out completely, which Friday's decision also confirmed.
"The court also left in place the appeals court decision to toss 273 UOCAVA ballots because these voters have never lived in North Carolina and were deemed ineligible to vote in non-Federal races," he went on. Pruser believes if Riggs can't successfully appeal this decision, Griffin has a good chance of winning.
Friday afternoon, the North Carolina Supreme Court struck a blow to Justice Allison Riggs, paving the way for challenger Jefferson Griffin to eventually win November's election (in June).
The high state court ruled that the 60,000+ ballots lacking proper registration details… pic.twitter.com/1RX87SmZD1
— Michael Pruser (@MichaelPruser) April 12, 2025
It's likely that many of the votes tossed will be from military personnel because of the particulars of the ruling. Riggs objected on those grounds to the court's decision in a statement Friday, NC Newsline reported.
"I’m the proud daughter of a 30-year military veteran who was deployed overseas, and it is unacceptable that the Court is choosing to selectively disenfranchise North Carolinians serving our country, here and overseas," Riggs said. She added that she was "gratified" by the decision to keep the votes, but noted it was "an attack on the fundamental freedoms" of "military members and their families."
North Carolina Democratic Gov. Josh Stein also railed against the decision. "The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that certain active duty military voters serving our nation must jump through hoops that other voters don’t," he posted to X.
"All voters have a constitutional right to be treated equally under the law — it is foundational to our democracy. It’s unconscionable, and this decision cannot stand," Stein added.
This issue is complex and encompasses many problems that arise due to modern voting methods. The high court's decision seems to have fallen favorably for the GOP, but this remains a close race at the ballot box and in the courts.
