“Riggs responds to Griffin’s request to delay certification of the NC Supreme Court election”

NC Newsline:

Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs asked a federal judge to deny Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin’s request for a preliminary injunction in his election case. 

Riggs, a Democrat, leads Griffin, a Republican, by 734 votes in the race to retain her seat on the state’s highest court.

A quick resolution to the case is in the public interest, Riggs’ brief says. Under state law, Riggs keeps her seat until the election is decided. But there’s a risk that someone, including Griffin, could argue that decisions are being made by an improperly elected official, the brief says. 

“That risk is particularly unacceptable for election protests that seek to disenfranchise thousands of North Carolina voters by changing the rules after the election concludes.”

Griffin wants to throw out more than 60,000 votes he says were cast by people who are ineligible. Most of the ballots he objects to were cast by people he claims did not provide driver’s license or partial Social Security numbers on their voter registration applications. Republican lawyers argue these voters are not legally registered

He has also challenged overseas and military voters because they did not submit photo IDs with their ballots, and has challenged overseas voters who have never lived in the state but whose parents were eligible North Carolina voters before they left the country. 

The State Board of Elections has rejected all of Griffin’s protests, but has not yet certified the results. Griffin asked US District Judge Richard Myers II for a preliminary injunction to prevent the Board of Elections from certifying the results, which would mean Riggs’ reelection. 

In the brief opposing the preliminary injection, a lawyer for Riggs wrote that those votes Griffin wants to throw out must be counted….

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