Nearly a month after Election Day, the results of the 2024 N.C. Supreme Court race are expected to be announced this week. However, the decision may be plagued by even further delays following a series of legal challenges and a drawn-out recount.
Despite the number of challenges raised by Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin, the outcome of past recounts hints that the final verdict is unlikely to lean in his favor.
If the results do hold, Democratic incumbent Justice Allison Riggs’ victory will keep the North Carolina Supreme Court at a 5-2 Republican majority, with Riggs and Justice Anita Earls continuing to serve as the court’s two Democrats.
When the initial count was finalized, Riggs led her Republican opponent Jefferson Griffin by a narrow 625 votes out of the over 5.5 million cast. The slim margin prompted Griffin to request a recount, which was supposed to be completed Wednesday but is now expected to finish this week.
As of Wednesday afternoon — the previous recount deadline — the results remained narrowly in Riggs’ favor, with her lead growing slightly to 722 votes. However, the final verdict will not be declared until all 100 of the state’s counties have completed their recounts. Difficulties in Wilson and Randolph counties have further delayed the process.
Griffin, who currently serves on the N.C. Court of Appeals, is set to begin his studies in Duke Law's Master of Laws program in May 2025.
Slight deviations in voting outcomes are usually anticipated due to stray marks on ballots which can result in differing machine inputs. Thus far, post-recount changes have been relatively small. Most counties found no net change in votes for Griffin or Riggs, while Durham County found one additional vote in Griffin’s favor.
Bipartisan boards of elections in each unfinished county will reconvene Monday to continue the recount process. A conclusive victory, however, may still not be reached. Under state law, the losing candidate can ask for a hand-eye recount to further validate the results.
Griffin has also raised allegations of voter fraud, submitting requests to the N.C. State Board of Elections to discount over 60,000 ballots he suspects are fraudulent. The protests concern ballots in all 100 counties.
Riggs dismissed Griffin’s claims as a “sore loser game,” noting that her own parents are among the votes that Griffin hopes to have thrown out.
The NCSBE plans to evaluate Griffin’s claims this month, with final briefs for the case due Friday.
Griffin’s Republican peers, including state Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, have already called into question the legitimacy of the state’s elections given this year’s extended provisional ballot counting process. Provisional voting allows individuals whose voter eligibility is questioned — due to issues like registration discrepancies or missing information — to cast a ballot that will be verified separately before being counted. This process, which usually takes 10 days, lasted two weeks this year.
“We’re seeing played out at this point another episode of ‘count until somebody you want to win wins,’” Berger said Nov. 20.
The following day, NCSBE Director Karen Brinson Bell called on Berger to publicly retract his comments, accusing him of spreading misinformation about election fraud.
“This is an accusation of wrongdoing that has absolutely no basis in fact,” Brinson Bell wrote in a letter to Berger. “You are a top leader of our state government. What you say matters.”
The same week, the GOP-led N.C. General Assembly passed Senate Bill 382, which would strip power from several statewide offices where Democrats were recently elected — including shifting control over NCSBE appointments from the governor to the office of the state auditor. The NCSBE currently has a 3-2 Democratic majority.
Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the bill Tuesday, but the legislature — which currently has a Republican supermajority — is expected to override his decision.
Previously, Griffin sued the NCSBE for allegedly failing to provide public election data he requested in a timely fashion, which prevented him from filing protests. In his lawsuit, he requested information on conflict voters, which includes voters suspected of casting both absentee and in-person ballots and voters who voted curbside, and lists of those with felony convictions and deceased people.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Kate Haver is a Trinity sophomore and a university news editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.