North Carolina Supreme Court Race in Turmoil: Democrat’s 700-Vote Victory Now in Jeopardy as 65,000 Voters Ordered to Prove Eligibility

Raleigh, NC – April 4, 2025 – A tightly contested North Carolina Supreme Court race has descended into chaos as Democratic incumbent Justice Allison Riggs’ narrow 700-vote victory over Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin hangs in the balance. In a stunning development, approximately 65,000 voters have been ordered to prove their eligibility, with their ballots potentially facing removal from the count—a move that could flip the election’s outcome.

The race, one of the last uncertified statewide contests from the November 2024 election, has been mired in legal battles for months. Riggs, appointed to the court in 2023 by then-Governor Roy Cooper, emerged from Election Day with a razor-thin lead of 734 votes out of over 5.5 million cast, a margin confirmed by two recounts, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE). However, Griffin, a state appeals court judge, has relentlessly challenged the results, alleging widespread irregularities in voter registration records.

At the heart of Griffin’s protest are roughly 60,000 ballots from voters whose registration forms lack a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number—information required under state law since 2004. Additional challenges target overseas ballots, including some from military members, for allegedly failing to meet photo ID requirements or residency standards. “These voters were not eligible to cast a ballot without first lawfully registering,” Griffin’s legal team argued in a brief to the state Supreme Court, as reported by The Guardian on December 11, 2024.

The NCSBE, controlled by a 3-2 Democratic majority, rejected Griffin’s initial challenges in December, asserting that the protests failed to follow proper procedure and lacked evidence of fraud. “The importance of people being able to vote and not being disenfranchised is extraordinarily important,” Chairman Alan Hirsch stated during a hearing, according to Democracy Docket on January 8, 2025. The board’s decision paved the way for certification of Riggs’ victory—until the Republican-dominated North Carolina Supreme Court intervened.

On January 7, 2025, the state Supreme Court, where Republicans hold a 5-2 majority, issued a temporary stay blocking certification, giving Griffin’s team time to argue their case. The court’s order, detailed by AP News on the same date, directed both sides to submit briefs within two weeks. Riggs recused herself from the matter, while Democratic Justice Anita Earls dissented, warning that the court’s actions risked undermining “the ordinary course of democratic processes.”

The latest twist came this week when posts on X, including one from user @EricLDaugh

on April 4, 2025, claimed that 65,000 voters must now prove their eligibility within 15 days or see their votes discarded. While the exact legal mechanism remains unclear as of press time, the development has fueled speculation that the ballots in question “lean heavily Democrat,” potentially handing Griffin a path to victory if disqualified, as noted in a post by

@EmilyRussel54 on X.

Democrats have decried the challenges as an assault on voter rights. “This is a baseless attempt to overturn his electoral loss,” Riggs said in a statement reported by NPR on January 27, 2025, pointing out that the contested ballots include those of her own parents. The North Carolina Democratic Party has likened Griffin’s efforts to a “nonviolent version of January 6,” with state Chair Anderson Clayton accusing Republicans of trying to “rig the election,” per NBC News on December 19, 2024.

Griffin’s camp, backed by the state GOP, insists they are safeguarding election integrity. Chief Justice Paul Newby, a Republican who has mentored Griffin, wrote in a concurrence on January 22, 2025, that the case is “not about deciding the outcome of an election” but about “preserving the public’s trust,” as cited by CNN Politics. Critics, however, question the impartiality of a court ruling on its own membership, especially given its history of partisan decisions.

The stakes are high. A Riggs victory would maintain the court’s current 5-2 Republican majority, while a Griffin win could shift it to 6-1, with implications for future rulings on voting rights and redistricting. As the legal fight drags on—potentially headed to federal court following a 4th Circuit hearing scheduled for next week—the outcome remains uncertain, leaving North Carolina’s judicial future in limbo.

“This case may have opened a Pandora’s box,” Justice Earls warned in her dissent, a sentiment echoed by observers nationwide as the nation watches this unprecedented electoral saga unfold. 17GEN4.com