Judge Jefferson Griffin (L); Judge Allison Riggs (R) (Credit: North Carolina Judicial Branch)
The North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday ruled that most of the 65,000 questionable ballots must count in the hotly contested judicial race.
Earlier this week the North Carolina Supreme Court halted a previous order from the state appeals court requiring the verification of 65,000 questionable ballots.
This case has been bouncing around between state and federal courts.
The North Carolina Supreme Court race headed for a recount due to a close final tally as the Democrat pulled ahead two weeks after Election Day.
Democrat incumbent Sarah Riggs closed the race with 2,770,818 votes to GOP challenger Jefferson Griffin’s 2,770,193 votes.
The race went to a recount since the vote difference is fewer than 10,000 votes.
Republican Griffin was leading the race until all of a sudden Democrat Riggs overcame her opponent weeks after the election.
In January, the North Carolina Supreme Court in a 5-1 vote blocked the state from certifying Democrat incumbent justice Allison Riggs as the winner of the race as her GOP opponent, Jefferson Griffin, challenges the election.
Last week the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that approximately 65,000 ballots — cast by voters with incomplete registration information, missing photo identification, or submitted by individuals who have never lived in North Carolina — may be invalid under state and federal election law.
The 2-1 decision was authored by Judges John Tyson and Fred Gore, both registered Republicans. Judge Tobias Hampson, a Democrat, dissented.
On Friday the state’s high court ruled 4-2 that most of the challenged ballots must be counted.
Because the race is so close, even if a small percent of the questionable ballots are tossed out, Republican candidate Griffin can overcome the Democrat and win.
The Hill reported:
North Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled Friday that most of the contested ballots challenged by the Republican candidate must be counted in the high court’s recent seat race.
The Tar Heel state’s top court said in a 4-2 ruling that a majority of ballots cast by around 60,000 voters, who had some of their information missing, such as Social Security numbers or numbers on their driver’s licenses, have to be counted in the still-uncertified election.
The state’s Supreme Court, which has a Republican majority, held the state board of elections responsible in the Friday decision, which in part overturns the lower court’s ruling from last week that sided with Republican state Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin.
“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,” North Carolina’s highest court said.
But the court also said that some ballots could end up being tossed out, giving Griffin, who is challenging the outcome of the November election, an opportunity to overturn Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs’ narrow win.
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