NC Supreme Court (Photo: Clayton Henkel)
Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin said Tuesday that he will not participate in his case against the state Board of Elections as it reaches the tribunal on which he sits.
Griffin, a Republican, is suing the state Board claiming it allowed more than 60,000 illegal votes to be counted. Griffin wants those votes thrown out in his attempt to win a state Supreme Court seat held by incumbent Democratic Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs. She led by 734 votes after all ballots were counted, and held on to the lead after two recounts.
Griffin lost in trial court last week. A Superior Court judge said the elections board did nothing wrong.
After Griffin’s lawyers sent notice that he would take the case to the Court of Appeals, Democrats called on Griffin to recuse himself.
Griffin said in an email Tuesday, “I won’t participate in any matters related to my case at the COA.”
Riggs did not participate in Griffin’s case when he petitioned the state Supreme Court to order ballots thrown out.
Republicans hold 12 seats on the 15 member Court of Appeals. Panels of three judges hear cases.
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.
A Court of Appeals ruling is sure to be appealed to the state Supreme Court. Counting Riggs, Republicans hold a 5-2 majority there. Three of the Republican justices seem open to Griffin’s arguments. In a dissent last month, one of the Republican justices wrote that Griffin should not be allowed to change the rules after an election.
In an order last week, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals left the door open to having the case considered in federal court at the conclusion of state court proceedings if questions of federal law remain.