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In his ongoing pursuit of a seat on the state Supreme Court, Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin has argued that the ballots of 5,509 overseas and military voters should be tossed because they didn’t have to provide photo ID—a rule both the State Board of Elections and a Republican-appointed rules commission had approved with little fuss.
The ballots come from four overwhelmingly Democratic counties—Buncombe, Guilford, Forsyth, and Durham—that voted for his opponent, incumbent Justice Allison Riggs, by at least 15 percentage points. Griffin did not challenge the vast majority of overseas and military voters who cast ballots in other counties.
Griffin has also challenged the ballots of more than 60,000 absentee and early voters with incomplete registration information and 267 voters who have never lived in North Carolina. On January 7, the Republican-dominated state Supreme Court agreed to hear his case.
As Jeffrey Billman and Michael Hewlett report, Griffin is asking the court to throw out thousands of votes not because voters did anything wrong, but because the candidate believes a state agency did.
Jefferson Griffin’s Gambit For a State Supreme Court Seat
Months before Election Day, a state board and a Republican-appointed rules commission said overseas voters didn’t need to provide a photo ID. Now the GOP candidate wants some of their ballots—all from heavily Democratic counties—tossed.
“This case presents a fundamental question: who decides our election Laws?” Griffin’s lawyers wrote in a brief filed last week. “Is it the people and their elected representatives, or the unelected bureaucrats sitting on the State Board of Elections?”
Have a news tip for our team? You can reach us at scoops@theassemblync.com.
The Year(s) Ahead
It’s Inauguration Day, and like many other newsrooms we’ve been gearing up for the second Trump administration. We know you have many questions about how the policy changes in Washington, D.C., will affect North Carolina.
We expect to soon see how the administration intends to ramp up deportations of people in the country illegally, and we’ll help you understand how that affects communities and industries in the state.
We’re watching how changes in tariffs and federal subsidies might reshape manufacturing plans in North Carolina and the jobs that come with them. And we want to know if President Trump will follow through on campaign pledges to use the college accreditation process to force higher education institutions to promote Western civilization and cut costs, among other things.
As always, our goal is not to compete with the vital day-to-day coverage by your local newspaper, radio, or television station, or to simply put a local spin on the national news. Instead, we want to bring you deeply reported stories about people and places in North Carolina that will help you understand how federal policy changes affect you, your neighbors, your job opportunities, and the inner workings of our state.
We want to hear from you about what you need to know about the new administration and what it means for our state. Email us at scoops@theassemblync.com to share your thoughts and questions.
—Emily Stephenson, Deputy Managing Editor
Reminder: Join Us for Our 2025 N.C. Politics Preview Event
This Thursday at noon, our event “Divided Government, United States” will explore what’s ahead in North Carolina politics over the next two to four years. Panelists include journalists from The New York Times, Axios, WUNC and, of course, The Assembly, plus political experts from Duke University and the Pope Foundation. You won’t want to miss it.
This event is currently only open to readers who have a Premium Subscription. Since you have an active Premium Subscription, you can register for this event on Zoom by clicking on the link below. See you on Thursday!
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Once you upgrade, you can visit our Premium Portal to access the link to register for the event. See you on Thursday!
This event is currently only open to readers who have a Premium Subscription. You can start a Premium Subscription today to attend. Once you become a subscriber, visit our Premium Portal to access the link to register for this event. See you on Thursday!
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