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Here in North Carolina, we are still dealing with the fallout of one of our closest electoral races, more than two months after the fact. Why? Because of baseless attempts to overturn the results of a legitimate election.
The election for a seat on our state Supreme Court was very close but underwent rigorous scrutiny and verification through a statewide canvass performed by bipartisan county boards of election, a machine recount, and a partial hand-to-eye recount, all overseen by the State Board of Elections. These methods are tried and true, and the results are clear: voters chose to retain Justice Allison Riggs as an Associate Justice on the state Supreme Court.
In response, her opponent sued, seeking to disqualify 60,000 votes on unfounded claims that they are invalid. Last week, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued a temporary stay preventing the results of the contest from being certified so they can evaluate the legitimacy of the claims. Two dissenting justices, one Democrat and one Republican, argued that the stay is not legally justified and has dangerous implications that go far beyond this one race.
As 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.”
This decision on the part of the state Supreme Court to interfere in the ordinary course of the electoral process sets a dangerous precedent. Public trust in our elections has already been eroded by disinformation and bad faith attempts to limit voting access. Lending credence to unfounded claims of improperly cast ballots only add fuel to the fire.
Close elections and recounts are a normal part of our democracy. What’s not normal is ignoring the results of those counts and attempting to strongarm the electoral process for personal gain.
Fair and impartial elections are one of the cornerstones of our democracy. We must trust in this process, or it is rendered meaningless. There is no room for gaming the system when our most fundamental freedoms are on the line. North Carolinian voters made their choice, and attempting to undermine that choice blatantly disregards the will of the people.
Democracy in its simplest form means “rule by the people.” The people have spoken. No candidate should be allowed to disqualify votes just because they don’t like the results of an election.
We urge Jefferson Griffin to respect the democratic process, and for the court to dismiss these baseless accusations and uphold the results of the election.