Supreme Court of North Carolina (Photo: nccourts.gov)
The state Board of Elections and Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs want a Republican judge’s elections lawsuit to go straight to the state high court.
Republican Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin wants more than 60,000 ballots tossed out in his effort to win a Supreme Court seat. He trails Riggs, a Democrat, by 734 votes.
He is suing the state Board of Elections, claiming they allowed illegal ballots to be counted. After a Superior Court judge ruled in the Board’s favor last week, Griffin’s lawyers filed notice of his appeal.
The elections board and Riggs notified the Appeals Court they would file a “bypass petition.” If the Supreme Court agrees, the case would go straight to the high court, skipping a hearing in the intermediate appeals court.
State law says approving a bypass petition is appropriate when “the subject matter of the appeal has significant public interest, the cause involves legal principles of major significance to the jurisprudence of the State,” among other reasons.
Republicans hold 12 of 15 seats on the Court of Appeals. Three-judge panels hear cases. Griffin has said he won’t participate in matters related to his case.
Republicans hold a 5-2 advantage on the state Supreme Court. Three Republican justices have indicated they are open to Griffin’s arguments.
Riggs has recused herself from all matters related to the case when the Supreme Court is considering it.
The decision to seek a bypass petition may be partly strategic. If the Supreme Court grants the petition and then splits 3-3, the decision of the trial court judge would stand. If Griffin were to win in the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court then splits 3-3, the Appeals Court decision would stand.
Griffin is challenging three sets of ballots. He claims more than 60,000 votes were cast by people who are not legally registered because they did not include partial Social Security numbers or driver’s license numbers on their registration applications. In the last few months, voters Griffin is challenging have come forward to declare they did include the information, but it was not attached to electronic voter rolls due to data mismatches or typos.
Griffin is challenging about 5,500 military and overseas absentee voters because they did not include photo ID with their ballots. The state Board of Elections does not require these voters to submit photo ID.
Additionally, he is challenging a few hundred voters who have never lived in North Carolina but are connected to the state through their parents.
After state courts finish with the case, any decision is likely to be appealed to federal court.