Some McDowell votes challenged in state Supreme Court election. Is your vote on the list?

Republican Jefferson Griffin, a candidate for the N.C. Supreme Court, has challenged the state elections board’s results of the November 2024 election for the seat. When the votes were in, Democratic incumbent N.C. Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs had more votes.

But Griffin, who is a justice on the N.C. Court of Appeals, challenged the results. After the county boards of elections conducted recounts in the race, the final canvassed results had Riggs with a slight lead with 2,770,412 votes (50.01%) to Griffin’s 2,769,678 votes (49.99%), according to the N.C. State Board of Elections.

The state board and county boards of elections have considered the challenges and have dismissed them, according to a letter on Jan. 9 to local boards of elections.

Now a case is making its way through state and federal courts.

Griffin v. State Board of Elections is before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, with oral arguments set for Jan. 27. It also is being briefed in the North Carolina Supreme Court, Riggs’ campaign said Wednesday. 

Griffin is challenging the validity of more than 60,000 ballots cast in the race, according to the list of protested votes provided by the state board of elections.

In Burke County, about 320 votes are being challenged. In McDowell County, about 225 votes are being challenged. In Catawba County, about 710 votes are being challenged, and in Iredell County, about 620 votes are being challenged.

The state elections board says the challenged ballots fall into three categories, which are:

• Alleged incomplete registrations of the voter (60,273 voters challenged);
• US citizens whose parents were NC residents but who have never resided in the United States (266 voters challenged);
• Military and overseas citizen absentee voters who did not provide or send a photo ID (1,409 voters challenged).

The alleged incomplete registration revolves around voters whose registrations to vote don’t have either a driver’s license or Social Security number.

Patrick Gannon, public information director for the N.C. State Board of Elections, said before early 2024, the general voter registration application did not say that either driver’s license or SSN was required, but it should have. The state board updated the voter registration application in early 2024 to require either a Social Security number or license, and if the prospective voter didn’t have either of those, there’s a check box to say they don’t have either of those, Gannon said.

Even though there are more than 60,000 voters whose ballots are being challenged, there are many people on the protest list who did provide either a driver’s license number or Social Security number, Gannon said.

The Jan. 9 letter to local elections boards said many voters supply such a number when they register, and the county board of elections then attempts to validate that number with the DMV or the Social Security Administration.

“But because this effort involves attempting to match information in different government databases — using records created at different times in people’s lives — there are often mismatches in the data,” the letter said. “When that occurs, the number is removed from the voter registration record because it failed to validate, and the voter is asked to provide an alternative form of identification when they vote for the first time.”

The letter said voters who have been challenged can contact a local county board of elections with questions about their registration record, including how to update their information.

To see a list of challenged votes in McDowell, Burke, Catawba, Iredell, Avery, Caldwell and Alexander County, visit mcdowellnews.com.

If voters would like to get in touch with the parties in this proceeding, the email address for the candidate bringing the challenges is [email protected]. The email address for the candidate opposing the challenges is [email protected].