Last Friday, we reported on developments in the as-yet-to-be-decided North Carolina Supreme Court race, where a recount is underway and where the State Sen. Leader, Phil Berger (R), went off on the State Board of Elections for what he called “another episode of ‘count until somebody you want to win, wins.'”
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Berger’s pointed remarks came in the aftermath of questionable actions from the State BOE and the concerning timelines for some county boards of elections in their post-election day reviewing/researching of provisional ballots as well as the counting of overseas/military ballots received after Election Day.
Berger’s comments prompted BOE Executive Director Karen Brinson-Bell to demand a retraction, claiming he was inciting violence for questioning the questionable post-election day process. As we noted at the time, however, Brinson-Bell through wildly partisan actions she took during the pandemic, has no one to blame but herself for state GOP leaders viewing the election canvassing with a critical eye.
In an update to this story, 73 of North Carolina’s 100 counties have completed their recounts (as of this writing). Republican Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, who was up the morning after Election Day by around 10,000 votes but who was down by 722 some two weeks later after counties (belatedly) completed their canvassing, has had a net gain of 85 votes over Democrat NC Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs (this link is periodically updated as more counties complete their recounts):
With 73 of North Carolina’s 100 counties completing recounts, Republican Jefferson Griffin has netted a gain of 85 votes against Democrat Allison Riggs in the state Supreme Court election. Riggs now leads by 637 votes. #ncpol @CarolinaJournal https://t.co/FWGBscb2tL
— Mitch Kokai (@mitchkokai) November 26, 2024
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Here’s where things get tricky, though.
Around the same time he called for the recount, Griffin also filed some 307 election protests across the state seeking to challenge the validity of over 60,000 votes.
The list of protests included early/absentee mail voters who Griffin’s campaign says were deceased prior to election day, were felons still serving their sentences, or non-registered voters. While those protests will be handled at the county board of elections level in the coming days, others – like those with incomplete voter registration info or overseas voters who allegedly provided no ID will be handled by the State Board of Elections.
Already, we’ve seen Resistance™ from some of the counties including Rowan, where this happened Tuesday morning:
Jefferson Griffin has election protests going in 100 counties. I appeared in Rowan County this morning.
Vote margin ~ 600 statewide. Rowan board found that 7 dead people voted but dismissed that protest anyway.
Elections shouldn’t be under partisan administration. #ncpol
— Dan Bishop (@danbishopnc) November 26, 2024
Then there was this, which happened in Dem-heavy Wake County, the most populous county in North Carolina, on November 15th, the day they certified their election results very late in the day and by just enough to put Riggs over Griffin by about 150 votes for the first time:
Wake County Board of Elections counts 3 ballots of voters who died before Election Day https://t.co/alhRPSqqbc
— ABC11 EyewitnessNews (@ABC11_WTVD) November 15, 2024
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More troublingly, at least one Democrat member of the Wake County Board of Elections, Gerry Cohen, says it was “unclear” in his view if state law even required them to remove such votes:
Wake County Board of Election member Gerry Cohen said it was “unclear” to him what part of North Carolina law required election officials to void these votes.
Further, Riggs, too, has revealed herself to be even more of a partisan, activist justice than she previously let on, posting a thread on Twitter/X basically saying that votes which potentially violate state law should be counted anyway because her mom’s and dad’s votes are among those that are allegedly being questioned:
And guess what? My parents aren’t alone. There are so many others whose voting rights are being unfairly attacked by my opponent and NCGOP. Enough is enough. Their stories need to be told. I was elected to defend constitutional rights, and I will never stop doing that. #ncpol
— Allison Riggs (@AllisonJRiggs) November 26, 2024
These were claims that were challenged by NC GOP spokesman Matt Mercer:
Her entire campaign was run on dishonesty, so it’s not surprising that continues now.
The protests are because of the @NCSBE’s failures — not the voters.
A little sunlight can go a long way… 🌞#NCPOL https://t.co/i4fI3HDmva
— Matt Mercer (@mattmercer) November 26, 2024
There was also this development:
INBOX: NCGOP calls for NCSBE member Siobhan Millen to recuse herself in Supreme Court race election case.
Her husband is the lawyer for Allison Riggs.#ncpol
Motion to disqualify here:https://t.co/EgG89e6VS7 pic.twitter.com/tvOhWJkUZW— A.P. Dillon (@APDillon_) November 26, 2024
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It appears that Griffin and the NCGOP are using every tool at their disposal to contest what they see as questionable results and actions. And they’ve got the backing of the RNC, which announced Friday that they had legal teams on the ground to assist in the fight.
Things ’bout to get verrrry interesting in the NC Supreme Court race. Whatley is a native North Carolinian and was the NCGOP chair before he became the national chair, so he knows how things work here. #ncpol https://t.co/jsmd4YZMP5
— Sister Toldjah 💙 (@sistertoldjah) November 22, 2024
Recount canvassing reportedly will wrap up Wednesday, but the election protests that were filed will take some more time to sort through. As always, stay tuned to RedState for the latest developments.
