- Wake County Superior Court Judge William Pittman rejected Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin's request to throw out 65,000 ballots from the Nov. 5 election.
- Pittman's one-page order Friday followed a court hearing in the dispute pitting Griffin against the State Board of Elections and Democratic candidate Allison Riggs.
- Griffin is expected to appeal the ruling. The case could eventually return to the state's highest court, which voted 4-2 on Jan. 7 to grant Griffin a temporary stay in the dispute.
A Wake County Superior Court judge rejected North Carolina Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin’s attempt to throw out 65,000 ballots from his recent election against Democrat Allison Riggs. Griffin is expected to appeal the ruling.
Judge William Pittman issued a ruling Friday afternoon, hours after holding a hearing attended by Griffin and Riggs. The one-page order upheld the State Board of Elections’ December decision rejecting three different groups of ballot protests.
“The Court concludes as a matter of law that the Board’s decision was not in violation of constitutional provisions, was not in excess of statutory authority or jurisdiction of the agency, was made upon lawful procedure, and was not affected by other error of law,” Pittman wrote.
Riggs leads Griffin by 734 votes out of 5.5 million ballots cast statewide in the election ending Nov. 5. A stay issued by the state Supreme Court on Jan. 7 has blocked the elections board from certifying Riggs as the winner.
An appeal in the case could eventually return to the state’s highest court, which voted 4-2 last month to grant the stay. Four state Supreme Court Republicans supported the stay. Republican Justice Richard Dietz and Democratic Justice Anita Earls voted against the stay. Riggs, an appointed incumbent, took no part in the decision.
Friday’s hearing took place after the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals refused to grant requests from Riggs and the elections board to seek to have the case returned to federal court. A unanimous 4th Circuit panel agreed Tuesday that US Chief District Judge Richard Myers had the authority to abstain from hearing the case.
Yet the 4th Circuit ruling opened the door for the case’s possible return to federal court. Citing a US Supreme Court precedent in a case called Pullman, appellate judges ruled that Myers must address any federal legal issues that remain once state courts have ruled on all state law issues in Griffin’s ballot challenges.
Both Riggs and the elections board filed Thursday a notice of an “England reservation.” That legal maneuver signaled their intent to return the case to Myers’ court if state courts rule against the elections board and Riggs.
Griffin is pursuing three categories of ballot challenges. The largest category of more than 60,000 ballots involves voters whose registration records appear to lack a required driver’s license number or last four digits of a Social Security number. Griffin also challenges more than 5,500 ballots from overseas voters who provided no photo identification. He targets 267 “never residents,” people permitted to cast ballots in North Carolina elections despite never living in the state.
Republicans outnumber Democrats, 5-2, on the state Supreme Court. A Riggs victory would lead to no change in the partisan split. A win for Griffin would boost Republicans’ majority to 6-1.
Barring a final outcome in the legal dispute by Tuesday, Riggs will continue to serve on the state high court when it returns to work that day hearing oral arguments in different legal disputes. Griffin will continue to serve in his role as a state Appeals Court judge as the case continues.