Republicans are once again denying election results after a defeat, subverting democracy to try to hold onto power.
This November, abortion-rights voters in North Carolina hoped to reelect Supreme Court justice Allison Riggs. She ran against Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin, who ruled in a case in 2023 that life begins at conception. However, more than two months after Election Day, the Riggs versus Jefferson race remains uncalled, thanks to Republican attempts to demand multiple recounts.
Riggs, who is running for a full term after Gov. Roy Cooper (D) appointed her to the court in 2023, is leading Griffin by 734 votes. (Cooper didn’t run for reelection as governor of North Carolina because he was term-limited; fellow Democrat Josh Stein won in November and took over on Jan. 1, 2025.) Nonetheless, Griffin and other Republicans are fighting to have more than 60,000 ballots thrown out, hoping that challenging thousands of voter registrations will help him gain the Supreme Court seat.
Most recently, on Tuesday, Jan. 7, North Carolina’s Supreme Court ordered the state elections board not to certify Riggs’ apparent victory, initially ruling 5-1 that the board needs more time to look into Griffin’s claims about invalid voters. At first, the state’s five Republican justices all appeared to vote in Griffin’s favor to issue a temporary stay preventing the state Board of Elections from certifying Riggs as the winner in the Supreme Court race, with only Democratic Justice Anita Earls dissenting. However, later in the day, Republican Justice Richard Dietz announced his dissent in an amended order, breaking with the rest of his party on the decision blocking the state from certifying the election results.
The court’s ruling goes against the state Board of Elections’ decision in December, when state elections officials voted to reject Griffin’s assertions. After the 5.5 million votes were counted for the first time in November and pointed to Riggs’ victory, Griffin requested a machine recount, which affirmed Riggs’ 734-vote lead. Most of the ballots Griffin has tried to call into question are the votes of people who may not have included a partial Social Security number or driver’s license number on their voter registration forms.
Griffin’s petitions to state courts to throw out votes were originally moved to federal court, but the federal court sent the petitions back to the state Supreme Court, which ruled on Tuesday that the state Board of Elections could not yet certify a winner. The Board of Elections had previously dismissed Griffin’s protests about the validity of the election, and North Carolina’s Democratic Party has sued to prevent the votes from being rejected.
In response to Griffin’s attempted ballot purges, North Carolina Democratic lawmakers and supporters gathered for a rally on Jan. 5, 2025 to show support for Riggs, carrying signs saying, “She Won.” In a speech, Riggs thanked her supporters and said the signs should really say, “We Won.”
“I see the work you did,” she said. “When we asked you for your help, you moved mountains.”
For many voters, Riggs’ place on the state Supreme Court represents protection for abortion rights. While abortion is currently legal in North Carolina up to 12 weeks, access is complicated by bans and restrictions, and the state Supreme Court still has yet to decide whether North Carolina’s Constitution protects the right to abortion.
A Riggs victory would also allow Riggs to remain one of two liberal justices on the North Carolina high court (especially if Justice Earls, another Democrat, can hold on to her seat in 2026). If Griffin takes Riggs’ spot, conservatives will reach a 6-1 majority.
Christy Clausell, an unaffiliated voter from Wake who attended Sunday’s rally, told NC Newsline that having her ballot challenged is “infuriating.” She said Griffin’s attempt to throw out votes “displays a selfish motive by someone who is supposed to care about the people they serve. This is not caring about the people they serve. This is saying we are disposable and don’t matter. I definitely don’t want anyone representing me on our state’s highest court who exercises blatantly dishonorable tactics to get what they want versus serving the people who vote for them.”
As part of his attempt to cast out Democratic votes in a broad sweep of challenges, Griffin is challenging ballots of Republicans and people who voted for him, including even local elected officials. “It makes no sense to me,” said Republican Wade Leatham who voted for Griffin, but received no notification that his vote was being challenged. “I’m going to take a trip down to my Board of Elections today to find out what’s going on.”
According to state Democratic Party chair Anderson Clayton, she and other supporters hope that Sunday’s rally will show North Carolina Republicans that “we’re not going to give up and that we’re not going to play dead.”
In a press statement, she said, “Justice Allison Riggs won her seat fair and square and that will continue to be demonstrated before the courts. Justice Riggs deserves her certificate of election and we are only in this position due to Jefferson Griffin refusing to accept the will of the people. He is hellbent on finding new ways to overthrow this election but we are confident that the evidence will show, like they did throughout multiple recounts, that she is the rightful winner in this race. The NCDP will continue to fight for justice and ensure that the will of North Carolinians will be heard.”
