Last Friday, we reported on developments in the yet-to-be-decided North Carolina Supreme Court race, which is undergoing a recount and saw state Sen. Phil Berger (R) elected to the state board Elections for what he called “another episode of ‘Count Until Someone You Want Wins Wins’.”
Berger’s pointed comments came in the wake of questionable actions by the state BOE and the troubling timelines for some county boards of elections in reviewing/investigating provisional ballots after Election Day as well as counting foreign/military ballots received after Election Day.
Berger’s comments prompted BOE Executive Director Karen Brinson-Bell to call for a retraction, claiming he was inciting violence because he questioned the questionable process after Election Day. But as we noted at the time, Brinson-Bell’s highly partisan approach during the pandemic has left no one to blame but herself for Republican leaders’ critical eye on campaign advertising.
READ MORE: The pearls are being clutched after North Carolina’s Senate leader hits the caucus over the Supreme Court race
In an update to this story, 73 of North Carolina’s 100 counties have completed their recounts (as of this writing). Republican Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, who was up by about 10,000 votes the morning after Election Day but fell by 722 votes about two weeks later after counties completed their campaign (delayed), has a net gain of 85 votes vs. Democrat North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs (this link will be updated regularly as additional counties complete their recounts):
With 73 of North Carolina’s 100 counties completing recounts, Republican Jefferson Griffin has won 85 votes against Democrat Allison Riggs in the state Supreme Court election. Riggs now leads by 637 votes. #ncpol @CarolinaJournal https://t.co/FWGBscb2tL
– Mitch Kokai (@mitchkokai) November 26, 2024
This is where things get tricky, though.
Around the same time he called for a recount, Griffin also filed about 307 Election protests Across the state, they are trying to challenge the validity of over 60,000 votes.
The list of protests These included early/absentee voters who Griffin’s campaign said had died before Election Day, were felons still serving their sentence, or were unregistered voters. While these protests will be addressed at the county election board level in the coming days, other protests – such as those with incomplete voter registration information or out-of-state voters who allegedly did not provide ID – will be processed handled from the state election committee.
We’ve already seen Resistance™ from some counties, including Rowan, where this happened Tuesday morning:
Jefferson Griffin leads election protests in 100 counties. I showed up in Rowan County this morning.
Vote margin ~600 nationwide. Rowan’s board noted that seven dead people voted, but still dismissed that protest.
Elections should not be held under partisan leadership. #ncpol
– Dan Bishop (@danbishopnc) November 26, 2024
Then this happened on November 15th in dementia-heavy Wake County, the most populous county in North Carolina, the day they certified their election results very tardy in the day, just enough to put Riggs ahead of Griffin by about 150 votes for the first time:
The Wake County Board of Elections is counting three ballots from voters who died before Election Day https://t.co/alhRPSqqbc
— ABC11 EyewitnessNews (@ABC11_WTVD) November 15, 2024
Even more troubling is that at least one Democratic member of the Wake County Board of Elections, Gerry Cohen, says it is “unclear“In his opinion, if state law even required them to remove such votes:
Gerry Cohen, a member of the Wake County Board of Election, said it was “unclear” to him what part of North Carolina law requires election officials to invalidate those votes.
Additionally, Riggs has also shown that she is an even more partisan and activist judge than she previously admitted by posting a thread on Twitter/X that was essentially about casting votes that potentially violated state law. should be counted anyway because they are the votes of their mother and father. Votes are among those that are supposedly being questioned:
And guess what? My parents are not alone. There are so many others whose voting rights are being unfairly attacked by my opponent and the NCGOP. Enough is enough. Their stories need to be told. I was elected to defend constitutional rights and I will never stop. #ncpol
– Allison Riggs (@AllisonJRiggs) November 26, 2024
These were claims disputed by NC GOP spokesman Matt Mercer:
Her entire campaign was based on dishonesty, so it’s no surprise that it continues now.
The protests are because of the @NCSBEThe failure lies with us – not with the voters.
A little sunlight can go a long way… 🌞#NCPOL https://t.co/i4fI3HDmva
— Matt Mercer (@mattmercer) November 26, 2024
There was also this development:
INPUT: NCGOP calls on NCSBE member Siobhan Millen to recuse herself in Supreme Court election case.
Her husband is Allison Riggs’ attorney.#ncpol
Request for disqualification here:https://t.co/EgG89e6VS7 pic.twitter.com/tvOhWJkUZW– AP Dillon (@APDillon_) November 26, 2024
It appears that Griffin and the NCGOP are using every tool at their disposal to challenge what they see as questionable findings and policies. And they have the support of the RNC, which announced Friday that it has legal teams on the ground supporting the fight.
Things are getting very compelling in the NC Supreme Court race. Whatley is a native North Carolinian and served as NCGOP chairman before becoming national chairman. So he knows how things work here. #ncpol https://t.co/jsmd4YZMP5
— Sister Toldjah 💙 (@sistertoldjah) November 22, 2024
According to reports, the recount will be completed on Wednesday, but it will take some time to process the election protests filed. As always, stay tuned to RedState for the latest developments.
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