Two Republican judges on the North Carolina Court of Appeals just effectively overturned Justice Allison Riggs' victory over Jefferson Griffin by retroactively nullifying thousands of lawful votes. A massive and outrageous blow to democracy.

The dissent is blunt: "Changing the rules by which these lawful voters took part in our electoral process after the election to discard their otherwise valid votes in an attempt to alter the outcome of only one race among many on the ballot is directly counter to law, equity, and the Constitution."

Unfortunately, it seems the best case scenario for Riggs at the hard-right North Carolina Supreme Court is a 3–3 deadlock that affirms today's decision.

The Elections Board, Riggs, and perhaps affected voters are going to have to seek relief from federal court, and eventually the 4th Circuit.

Two Republican judges on the North Carolina Court of Appeals just effectively overturned Justice Allison Riggs' victory over Jefferson Griffin by retroactively nullifying thousands of lawful votes. A massive and outrageous blow to democracy.

— Mark Joseph Stern (@mjsdc.bsky.social) 2025-04-04T16:45:56.101Z

Some voters in North Carolina whose ballots were challenged in the state’s contentious Supreme Court election in November must fix their ballots or be disenfranchised, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled Friday. The court overturned a lower court’s decision dismissing the challenges filed by Jefferson Griffin.

The ruling is the latest development in the ongoing legal saga over the state Supreme Court race between incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs and appeals court judge Jefferson Griffin, the Republican candidate. Griffin lost the election, but the race was close enough that he challenged the election results. Even after two recounts, Riggs still won but Griffin filed multiple lawsuits in response.

At the heart of the issue is the North Carolina State Board of Election’s decision to count some 65,000 ballots cast by voters with allegedly incomplete registrations, along with ballots by overseas voters who didn’t provide their photo ID with their absentee ballots and overseas voters who never resided in North Carolina.

Per the appeals court’s ruling, military and overseas voters who did not provide proper photo ID will be given 15 days to fix that error, as will voters with incomplete voter registrations. Ballots cast by North Carolina residents who live overseas but have never lived in the state will not be counted.

This is a developing story…

https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/nc-voters-must-fix-ballots-in-15-days-court-rules/

To be clear: on the Record before us, Petitioner has yet to identify a single voter—among the tens of thousands Petitioner challenges in this appeal—who was, in fact, ineligible to vote in the 2024 General Election under the statutes, rules, and regulations in place in November 2024 governing that election. Every single voter challenged by Petitioner in this appeal, both here and abroad, cast their absentee, early, or overseas ballot by following every instruction they were given to do so. Their ballots were accepted. Their ballots were counted. The results were canvassed. None of these challenged voters was given any reason to believe their vote would not be counted on election day or included in the final tallies. The diligent actions these voters undertook to exercise their sacred fundamental right to vote was, indeed, the same as every other similarly situated voter exercising their voting right in the very same election. Changing the rules by which these lawful voters took part in our electoral process after the election to discard their otherwise valid votes in an attempt to alter the outcome of only one race among many on the ballot is directly counter to law, equity, and the Constitution.

[…]

Nor is the remedy invented by the majority in accord with North Carolina law or appropriate to the situation. The majority orders the Board allow a 15-day “cure period” for the majority of challenged voters. The proposition that a significant portion of these 61,682 voters will receive notice and timely take curative measures is a fiction that does not disguise the act of mass disenfranchisement the majority’s decision represents.

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/04/north-carolina-republicans-win-major-battle-to-steal-election