The result of a new “manual” recount of votes confirmed the victory of the Democratic judge Allison Riggs in front of Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin.
The State Board of Elections (NCBOE) announced on Tuesday, December 10, that it would not order a manual recount of all ballots in this “extremely close” race.
The announcement came after a partial recount resulted in additional votes for Judge Riggs.
Riggs, who led by 734 votes after the first statewide machine recount, won more votes than his opponent in the partial manual recount.
Riggs won 70 additional votes compared to 56 for Griffin in this second recount that concluded Tuesday.
The recount was conducted by bipartisan teams in all 100 counties last week.
What the state law says
Under state law, in order for a court to order a full manual recount , Griffin would have had to have collected at least 35 more votes than Riggs in the partial hand count of ballots at 3% of Election Day precincts and early voting sites in each county.
The Board explained that election administrators expect candidates to collect votes in a manual recount because some voters do not mark their ballots correctly and, as a result, the tabulator cannot read their selections.
“However, in a head-to-head recount, humans can identify marks that show which candidate the voter intended to select, as determined by the county’s bipartisan board members, and count those ballots,” the board explained in a statement.
The partial head-to-head recount followed a full recount of the more than 5,5 million votes cast in the Supreme Court race. That recount showed Riggs with a 734-vote lead.
Related: Meet Allison Riggs: Democratic Nominee for North Carolina Supreme Court
Riggs claims victory for the second time
Riggs, for his part, has declared victory in this contest twice, on Tuesday, December 3 and Tuesday, December 10.
A statement from Riggs' campaign said the Democratic judge had won three counts, including the initial recount and recounts conducted by machine and by hand.
"The votes have already been counted three times. Judge Griffin should concede immediately," said Embry Owen, Judge Riggs's campaign manager.
"He should retract his challenges to more than 60,000 North Carolina ballots, including those of service members and elected officials. This election is over, and the voters have cast a clear verdict in electing Judge Riggs," he stated.
The Supreme Court currently has a 5-2 Republican majority. Three Republican-held seats are up for grabs in the 2028 election.
With Riggs' victory, Democrats could have a chance to flip control of the High Court in 2028.
You may be interested: North Carolina: 184,000 Latino registered voters cast ballots in the 2024 presidential election
Electoral Board denies challenging 60,000 votes
On Wednesday, December 11, the NCBOE denied efforts by the North Carolina Republican Party (NCGOP) to “throw away” at least 60,000 ballots cast by voters in this year’s election.
The NCGOP had launched its protests to help its party's candidate in a race for North Carolina Supreme Court Seat 6, the latest step in one of the closest and longest contests of the election cycle.
The race may not be over yet, as Republicans can now appeal the NCBOE decision in state court, but they have more than a week to decide whether to do so.
The election board has yet to formally name a winner of the race, or three other state legislative races that could be affected by these protests, as there is still the possibility of further legal battles.
What the Republicans are demanding
Griffin's campaign, and other Republican candidates, filed "protests" of at least 60,000 votes in several counties claiming that State Board of Elections officials did not have enough information to confirm voters' identities because they failed to submit driver's license or Social Security numbers as required by the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA).
Among the complaints, Griffin said, were ballots cast for deceased voters and felons, as well as voters who do not live in the state and others who had incomplete information.
Griffin alleges that North Carolina improperly includes on its rolls so-called foreign voters who have “never resided” in the United States and North Carolina.
While the deceased and felonious voters would only affect the vote count on a county-by-county basis, the other two protests could have a statewide impact.
The protests have so far been quashed by the Wake County and Mecklenburg County Boards of Elections.
The Republican Party (GOP) has made similar claims before the election, but its arguments were rejected by the Board and federal courts.
Why the vote recount arose
Griffin had been fighting for votes since Election Day, with preliminary results showing him leading Riggs by 9,800 votes.
However, this brief victory was still pending officialization because the provisional votes and absentee ballots were still pending counting, as well as the final result of some counties that had not yet delivered the final voting results, which could change those preliminary results.
After those votes were counted, Riggs led Griffin by 625 votes, prompting the Republican judge to request a recount of more than 5 million votes cast in the statewide race, the results of which were delivered by the Board of Elections on Tuesday, December 5.
Because the results still showed a very narrow margin of advantage in favor of Riggs, the judge requested a second recount.
The board announced Tuesday that it would conduct the second partial recount manually by randomly selecting precincts around the state.
Why a vote protest can be filed
The apparent results of an election can be challenged through a formal complaint called an “election protest” based on irregularities or misconduct that affected the outcome of the election.
State law allows voters or candidates to file an election protest alleging a defect in the way votes were counted or alleging some other violation of election law, irregularity, or misconduct.
Republish our stories for free on your website or newspaper. We follow the Creative Commons license. Click the box and follow the instructions.
