The two candidates in North Carolina’s recent Supreme Court election disagree about the proper forum for resolving a legal dispute involving the election. Republican Jefferson Griffin argues that the case belongs in state court. Democrat Allison Riggs counters that federal courts should settle the election fight.
Riggs and the North Carolina Democratic Party filed briefs Wednesday evening with the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals. Both made the case for federal review of the election dispute.
The State Board of Elections and left-of-center activist groups working with Democratic operative Marc Elias’ law firm agree with Riggs and the state Democratic Party. They filed briefs after 11 p.m.
The 4th Circuit will hold oral arguments in the case on Jan. 27.
Riggs, the appointed incumbent, leads Griffin, a state appellate judge, by 734 votes out of 5.5 million ballots cast in the November election. Recounts have confirmed Riggs’ lead.
Griffin has been seeking a writ of prohibition from the state Supreme Court to block elections officials from counting more than 60,000 ballots Griffin has labeled “unlawful.”