An extremely close state Supreme Court race heads to recount as Democrat appears to win
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Allison Riggs appears to have won her seat back on the N.C. state Supreme Court. Photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images
The North Carolina state Supreme Court race between Democrat Allison Riggs and Republican Jefferson Griffin is heading to a recount after Riggs appeared to win the race by just 625 votes.
Why it matters: If Riggs, who was appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper to the court in 2023, continues to hold the narrow lead after the recount, her election would keep the partisan makeup of the state's highest court at a 5-2 advantage for Republicans.
- Republicans are guaranteed to keep an advantage on the court — which hears appeals from lower courts and decides the legality of contested matters like gerrymandering — until at least 2028, when three incumbents will be up for election.
Driving the news: State law allows a candidate to request a recount in a race if the difference is 10,000 votes or fewer.
- Griffin officially requested the recount to the State Board of Elections on Tuesday night. The recount will begin Wednesday and finish no later than Nov. 27. A hand count could also be requested, which would happen the week of Dec. 2.
- On Tuesday, he also submitted 300 pages of protest documents challenging that 60,000 votes might not be valid.
Zoom in: Griffin, who was leading the race before outstanding absentee and provisional ballots were counted, sued the State Board of Elections this week alleging the board did not return election data fast enough for his campaign to file protests, The News & Observer reported.
- The lawsuit, which the state Republican Party joined, says Griffin's campaign was requesting lists of voters who are suspected of voting both absentee and in-person, lists of those with felony convictions on Election Day and a list of deceased voters, The N&O reported.
- Wake County election officials, for example, voted to count the ballots of three people who voted early but died before Election Day, despite interpretation of state laws suggesting those ballots be rejected, WRAL reported.
State of play: It's rare for recounts to change results, according to a report from the organization FairVote, with only three of the 36 statewide recounts done in the past 23 years changing the result.
- State Supreme Court races have been especially close in North Carolina in recent years. In 2020, Democrat Cheri Beasley requested a recount against Republican Paul Newby after trailing by around 400 votes. She still trailed after the recount.
What they're saying: "These protests are about one fundamental principle: ensuring every legal vote is counted," Griffin said in a press release, according to NC Newsline.
Riggs said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that "Recounts are a normal part of the electoral process. They help to safeguard confidence in our electoral system and double check all votes were counted."
- But she added that Griffin's protests were part of an effort to disenfranchise some voters.
- "My opponent is taking a tired page from the playbook of previous failed candidates ... in an attempt to disenfranchise voters," she wrote. "I look forward to continuing to defend my lead in this race with integrity."