A federal judge on Monday ordered the North Carolina elections board to certify results showing Democrat Allison Riggs as the winner of the state Supreme Court race against Republican Jefferson Griffin, ruling that thousands of contested ballots in the November contest must remain in the final count.
U.S. District Judge Richard Myers – who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019 – agreed with Riggs and others who argued it would violate the U.S. Constitution to carry out recent decisions by state appeals courts that could remove potentially thousands of ballots for overseas military and their family members who were not required to attach a copy of their photo IDs, as well as ballots for a category of “Never Residents,” or U.S. citizens with family ties to North Carolina who have never lived in the United States. Myers wrote that votes could not be removed six months after Election Day without damaging due process or equal protection rights of the affected residents.
Myers ordered the State Board of Elections to certify results that, after two recounts, had Riggs as the winner — by just 734 votes — over Griffin.
FEDERAL JUDGE KICKS BATTLE OVER NC SUPREME COURT ELECTION BACK TO STATE COURT
North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin and North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice Allison Riggs. (North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts via AP)
“The State Board SHALL certify the results of the election for Seat 6 based on the tally at the completion of the canvassing period on December 10, 2024,” Myers wrote, denying Griffin’s petitions for judicial review and injunctive relief.
The judge delayed his order for seven days in case Griffin wants to appeal the ruling to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
More than 5.5 million ballots were cast in what has been the nation’s last undecided race from November’s elections.
Myers said the “case concerns whether the federal Constitution permits a state to alter the rules of an election after the fact and apply those changes retroactively to only a select group of voters, and in so doing treat those voters differently than other similarly situated individuals.”
The board “must not proceed with implementation of the North Carolina Court of Appeals and Supreme Court’s orders, and instead must certify the results of the election for (the seat) based on the tally at the completion of the canvassing period,” Myers wrote.
Griffin, himself a state Court of Appeals judge, filed formal protests after the election in hopes that removing ballots he said were unlawfully cast would flip the outcome to him.
Griffin’s legal team was reviewing Myers’ order Monday night and evaluating the next steps, Griffin campaign spokesperson Paul Shumaker told the Associated Press.
Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs speaks to protesters at a rally in Raleigh, N.C., on Monday, April 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)
FEDERAL JUDGE WEIGHS IN ON LAST UNDECIDED 2024 ELECTION
“Today, we won,” Riggs said in a statement. “I‘m proud to continue upholding the Constitution and the rule of law as North Carolina’s Supreme Court Justice.”
Griffin wanted Myers to leave undisturbed the state courts’ decisions, which also directed that most of the voters with otherwise ineligible ballots get 30 days to provide identifying information for their race choices to remain in the tally.
Riggs, the state Democratic Party and some affected voters said Griffin was trying to change the 2024 election outcome after the fact by removing ballots cast by voters who complied with voting rules as they were written last fall.
Myers wrote that Griffin’s formal protests after the election, which were rejected by the State Board of Elections, constituted efforts to make retroactive changes to the voting laws that would arbitrarily disenfranchise only the voters who were targeted by Griffin. Griffin’s challenges over voters not providing photo identification only covered at most six Democratic-leaning counties in the state.
Judge Jefferson Griffin, the Republican candidate for the N.C. Supreme Court, listens to testimony in Wake County Superior Court on Friday, February 7, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C. (Robert Willett/The News & Observer via AP, File)
“You establish the rules before the game. You don’t change them after the game is done,” Myers wrote in a 68-page order. “Permitting parties to ‘upend the set rules’ of an election after the election has taken place can only produce ‘confusion and turmoil'” that “‘threatens to undermine public confidence in the federal courts, state agencies, and the elections themselves,'” he added.
One category of ballots that state appellate courts found to be ineligible covered military or overseas voters who did not provide copies of photo identification or an ID exception form with their absentee ballots. A state rule exempted them from the requirement. The appeals courts had permitted a “cure” process for these voters, so their ballots could still count in the race.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The other category of ballots that the appellate courts declared violated the state constitution were cast by overseas voters who have never lived in the U.S. but whose parents were declared North Carolina residents. A state law had authorized these persons to vote in state elections.
Griffin filed formal protests that appeared to cover more than 65,000 ballots. Ensuing state court rulings whittled down the total to between 1,675 and 7,000, according to court filings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.