A North Carolina Court of Appeals panel spent more than 90 minutes Friday morning listening to arguments related to state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin’s challenge of more than 65,000 ballots cast in last fall’s election.
Griffin, an Appeals Court judge, trails Democratic Justice Allison Riggs, an appointed incumbent, by 734 votes out of more than 5.5 million ballots cast in the Nov. 5 election. Recounts have confirmed Riggs’ lead. Yet a Jan. 7 stay issued by Riggs’ state Supreme Court colleagues has blocked the North Carolina State Board of Elections from certifying Riggs as the winner.