Appeal of election needs to end
To the Editor:
It’s unfathomable that the citizens of North Carolina are still dealing with delays in the certification of Justice Allison Riggs’s November 2024 election to the state Supreme Court because of baseless attempts to overturn the results of a legitimate election.
Her opponent, Judge Jefferson Griffin, rightfully asked for a recount because of a close election where Riggs was ahead by only 624 votes. Recounted twice, with both finding Riggs ahead by 724 votes, instead of gracefully accepting the outcome Griffin has shamefully sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections, seeking to throw out over 60,000 votes on unfounded claims that they are invalid. According to the North Carolina Board of Elections, even if a voter does not have a driver’s license or Social Security number in their voter file — which could be due to a clerical error in the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles or Social Security Administration databases — the voter law states neither are required. Persons are entitled to vote by showing a valid ID. All voters on the Griffin list showed an ID to vote or included a copy of a valid ID with their stateside absentee ballot.
Griffin has also challenged 5,509 absentee ballots cast by military and overseas voters covered by the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, which contains no provision for providing photo identification. For all the rules Griffin is claiming were broken however, he’s not challenging every voter who committed alleged violations; his challenges target certain demographics and counties that lean Democratic.
The case went to Wake County Superior Court where Griffin lost, and Judge William Pittman ruled that the State Board of Elections had every right to dismiss Griffin’s attempts to throw out the ballots. After his loss at trial, Griffin appealed to the Court of Appeals where he is currently a judge. The Board of Elections then asked the N.C. Supreme Court to skip the Court of Appeals and head directly to theirs for a speedier trial, which was supported by Riggs as well because if there is a tie in the judgement, it follows the last court’s judgement — the Wake County judgement. On Thursday, February 20, the Supreme Court shot down that request in a 4-2 vote allowing the case to take the slower path that Griffin sought through the Court of Appeals.
There are two dissenting justices on the N.C. Supreme Court, one Democrat and one Republican. Republican Justice Dietz wrote in his dissent, “Permitting post-election litigation that seeks to rewrite our state’s election rules — and, as a result, remove the right to vote in an election from people who already lawfully voted under the existing rules — invites incredible mischief.”
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The interference of the state Supreme Court in the electoral process sets a dangerous precedent. Recounts of close elections are customary in democracy; however, disregarding the results of those counts is dangerous and undermines the people's will.
Jefferson Griffin needs to respect the democratic process and concede, while the court needs to dismiss the baseless accusations and uphold the results of the Riggs election.
Kelli Davis, Cashiers
Karen Hawk, Highlands
