It’s been months since Election Day in 2024, but there is one race that still hasn’t been certified: the North Carolina Supreme Court.
In North Carolina, state Supreme Court justices are elected by the voters. In 2024, incumbent Justice Allison Riggs faced opponent Judge Jefferson Griffin for one of the seven seats on the court. After the votes had been counted and recounted, Justice Riggs was declared the winner.
However, Judge Griffin is now trying to change the rules of the election after the fact.
It is fundamentally undemocratic to try to change the rules of an election after voters have already cast their ballots. Our election system has laws in place that allow candidates to challenge results. But they cannot change the law after voters have already cast their ballots.
Judge Griffin has brought this race to the courts and is attempting to throw out more than 65,000 ballots.
One person cannot overthrow an election just because they don’t like the results.
Any attempt to change the rules after the election has already been conducted undermines the integrity of our elections and our democracy.
Campaign Legal Center has been working to protect the freedom to vote for North Carolinians since last year. CLC filed two “friend-of-the-court" briefs to protect military and overseas voters ahead of the election.
Included in the 65,000 challenged ballots brought by Judge Griffin are thousands of military and overseas voters.
Now, CLC has filed a “friend-of-the-court" brief to urge the North Carolina lower court to protect the will of the voters and reject Judge Griffin’s attempts to overthrow the election results.
On February 7, the North Carolina lower court rejected Judge Griffin’s attempts to throw out over 65,000 votes. Griffin appealed.
On April 4, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Judge Griffin.
On April 11, the North Carolina Supreme Court overrode the Court of Appeals' decision on 60,000 ballots but, left 5,000 military and overseas votes in jeopardy of not being counted.
Every American should have confidence that when they cast their vote, their voice will be heard. We the people decide the outcome of elections with our votes.
CLC has been at the forefront of protecting the freedom to vote for all Americans. We will continue our work in North Carolina to ensure that the will of the voters is respected and the rightful winner of this election is certified.
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