{"id":2390675,"date":"2025-01-15T14:25:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T19:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nc-court-candidate-5k-ballots-with-no-id-were-counted-illegally\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T14:26:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T19:26:53","slug":"nc-court-candidate-5k-ballots-with-no-id-were-counted-illegally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/nc-court-candidate-5k-ballots-with-no-id-were-counted-illegally\/","title":{"rendered":"NC Court Candidate: 5K Ballots With No ID Were Counted Illegally"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fnc-court-candidate-5k-ballots-with-no-id-were-counted-illegally%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2390675&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In the ongoing electoral \u2064dispute \u2062in North Carolina,Republican state Supreme\u2064 Court candidate Judge jefferson Griffin has filed a legal challenge regarding the counting of 5,509 overseas ballots that were submitted without voter identification during \u200bthe 2024 election.Griffin&#8217;s case is currently being heard by the Supreme Court, where he is poised to serve, \u200bas his \u200copponent, incumbent Democrat Justice Allison Riggs, \u2062has recused herself.Initially leading by about 10,000 votes on election night, Griffin\u2019s position shifted as mail-in and overseas ballots were counted, ultimately\u2062 leaving him trailing Riggs by 734 votes.<\/p>\n<p>Griffin&#8217;s legal action has narrowed it&#8217;s focus \u200dfrom challenging over 60,000 ballots to specifically contesting the legitimacy of\u2063 the overseas votes due to \u200ba loophole in state regulations. He argues that the crux of his case is whether election laws are determined by elected officials or\u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/meet-the-nebraska-parents-who-exposed-sex-ed-activists\/\" title=\"Meet the Nebraska Parents Who Exposed Sex-Ed Activists\">state bureaucrats<\/a>. Griffin accuses the North Carolina State Board of Elections \u200dof \u2062having neglected legal standards in\u200b past elections. One justice, Richard Dietz, deemed \u2064Griffin\u2019s challenge to the no-ID overseas ballots as\u2063 likely \u200bvalid, suggesting a phased approach to the case might be beneficial. If these \u2062challenged votes do not change the election\u200c outcome, Griffin\u2064 proposes\u2064 addressing additional claims regarding voters who \u2064have never resided in North Carolina.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"article-body body-md bdr-top-black pt-30\">\n<div class=\"row justify-content-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12\">\n<figure class=\"article-thumbnail mb-30 mb-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-thumbnail-caption d-flex align-items-center justify-content-md-end label-xs mt-15\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-camera me-10\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Image Credit<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=-fp7CXG_aG8\">The Federalist Society \/ Youtube<\/a>       <\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-share text-center article-share-simple\">\n<h5 class=\"label-sm mb-10\">Share<\/h5>\n<ul class=\"article-share-list list-unstyled m-0 p-0\">\n<li class=\"article-share-facebook m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/01\/15\/nc-supreme-court-candidate-more-than-5k-overseas-ballots-with-no-voter-id-were-counted-illegally\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-facebook\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Facebook<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-twitter m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=NC%20Supreme%20Court%20Candidate:%20More%20Than%205K%20Overseas%20Ballots%20With%20No%20Voter%20ID%20Were%20Counted%20Illegally&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/01\/15\/nc-supreme-court-candidate-more-than-5k-overseas-ballots-with-no-voter-id-were-counted-illegally\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Twitter<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-truth-social m-0\">       <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/share?title=NC%20Supreme%20Court%20Candidate:%20More%20Than%205K%20Overseas%20Ballots%20With%20No%20Voter%20ID%20Were%20Counted%20Illegally&amp;url=https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/01\/15\/nc-supreme-court-candidate-more-than-5k-overseas-ballots-with-no-voter-id-were-counted-illegally\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" fill=\"currentColor\" style=\"width:36px;height:auto;\" viewbox=\"0 0 92 93\"><path d=\"M69.444 55.716H56.772v10.37h12.672zM64.487 37.795V27.32H38.666v38.664h13.18v-28.19zM21.05 27.321h12.653v10.471H21.051z\" https:><\/path><\/svg>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article on Truth Social<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-link m-0\">       <button data-clipboard-text=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/01\/15\/nc-supreme-court-candidate-more-than-5k-overseas-ballots-with-no-voter-id-were-counted-illegally\/\" data-tooltip-content=\"Copied!\" class=\"clip tooltip\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-link-variant\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Copy Article Link<\/span>       <\/button>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\">       <a href=\"mailto:?subject=NC%20Supreme%20Court%20Candidate:%20More%20Than%205K%20Overseas%20Ballots%20With%20No%20Voter%20ID%20Were%20Counted%20Illegally&amp;body=%20https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/01\/15\/nc-supreme-court-candidate-more-than-5k-overseas-ballots-with-no-voter-id-were-counted-illegally\/\" target=\"_blank\">         <i class=\"mdi mdi-email\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>         <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Share Article via Email<\/span>       <\/a>     <\/li>\n<li class=\"article-share-email m-0\"><span class=\"printfriendly pf-button  pf-alignleft\"><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\" rel=\"nofollow\" onclick=\"window.print(); return false;\" title=\"Printer Friendly, PDF &amp; Email\"><span id=\"printfriendly-text2\" class=\"pf-button-text\"><i class=\"mdi mdi-printer\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<p>Elections are not over yet in North Carolina, as Republican state Supreme Court candidate Judge Jefferson Griffin filed a brief challenging 5,509 overseas voters who did not provide identification with their ballots in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n<p>Griffin&rsquo;s case is being heard by the very Supreme Court upon which he hopes to serve, as his incumbent Democrat opponent, Justice Allison Riggs, is recused from the case. Earlier this month, the state&rsquo;s high court <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/01\/07\/north-carolina-supreme-court-blocks-elections-board-from-certifying-democrat-as-winner-for-high-court-seat\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blocked<\/a> the Democrat-run North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) from certifying the election for Riggs before Griffin&rsquo;s case was heard.<\/p>\n<div class=\"fdrlst__b89e9-paragraph-2 d-flex justify-content-center\" style=\"margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center; \" id=\"fdrlst__b89e9-1068393364\">\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1463670073398-0\" class=\"mb-30\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The Tuesday <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncappellatecourts.org\/show-file.php?document_id=367477\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">filing<\/a> narrows the focus of Griffin&rsquo;s election protests from his challenge of over 60,000 ballots that he says were cast illegally.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;At bottom, this case presents a fundamental question: who decides our election laws? Is it the people and their elected representatives, or the unelected bureaucrats sitting on the State Board of Elections? If the Board gets its way, then it is the real sovereign here. It can ignore the election statutes and constitutional provisions, while administering an election however it wants,&rdquo; Griffin&rsquo;s filing said. &ldquo;The State Board is an administrative agency that has broken the law for decades, while refusing to correct its errors. This lawlessness was brought to the Board&rsquo;s attention back in 2023 and again in 2024, both before the 2024 general election, but the Board refused to follow the law. Now those chickens have come home to roost.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>On election night in November, Griffin was leading Riggs by around 10,000 votes, but over the succeeding nine days, overseas, absentee, and provisional ballots slowly started eating away at his lead, ultimately flipping the vote totals in favor of Riggs. She currently leads by 734 votes.<\/p>\n<p>North Carolina law requires that all voters in the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">state provide photo identification<\/a> to vote, in person and absentee. However, an NCSBE rule provides a loophole for overseas voters, who are not required to abide by the law. Griffin is challenging that discrepancy, and one justice, Richard Dietz, has already said that challenge is &ldquo;quite likely to be meritorious.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Dietz dissented in the Supreme Court opinion that blocked the NCSBE from certifying the election and said that challenging the other roughly 60,000 votes using a different argument regarding identification was unlikely to succeed.<\/p>\n<p>Griffin&rsquo;s lawyers appear to have heeded that warning, as they now argue that &ldquo;dealing with the question of photo identification for overseas voters first, for instance, the Court may be able to moot the rest of the petition.&rdquo; The filing called the tranche of 5,509 overseas votes without identification the &ldquo;primary category of protests at issue.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The Republican asked the court for a &ldquo;phased&rdquo; approach to dealing with his various arguments, suggesting they deal with the no-ID overseas ballots first. If those ballots do not turn the election in his favor, then the court should turn to 267 voters who cast ballots but have never lived in North Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>If Griffin still does not prevail after rejecting those two groups, then his filing argues that the court should consider the legitimacy of another 60,273 ballots that were cast by voters who were not properly registered to vote, as they provided no driver&rsquo;s license or Social Security Number upon registration &mdash; as required by law.<\/p>\n<p>The NCSBE is required to respond by Jan. 21.<\/p>\n<p>While this matter is being considered at the state level, the NCSBE has also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.carolinajournal.com\/griffin-emphasizes-overseas-voters-with-no-photo-id-in-latest-nc-supreme-court-filing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">appealed<\/a> a U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/california-appeals-ruling-overturning-assault-weapons-ban\/\" title=\"California Appeals Ruling Overturning Assault Weapons Ban\">district court decision<\/a> that remanded the case to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/one-of-two-wisconsin-supreme-court-rulings-give-president-trump-the-win-should-be-enough-votes-to-win-the-state\/\" title=\"One of Two Wisconsin Supreme Court Rulings Give President Trump the Win \u2013 Should Be Enough Votes to Win the State\">state court<\/a>. The federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear the NCSBE&rsquo;s appeal. Infamous election rigger and far-left lawyer Marc Elias has been called in to assist at the federal level, which has oral arguments set for Jan. 27 in Richmond, Virginia.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\">\n<div class=\"article-author-description fst-italic\">      Breccan F. Thies is an elections correspondent for The Federalist. He previously covered education and culture issues for the Washington Examiner and Breitbart News. He holds a degree from the University of Virginia and is a 2022 Claremont Institute Publius Fellow. You can follow him on X: @BreccanFThies.<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-30 bdr-top-bold-black\">\n<div class=\"row g-0 align-items-center\">\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6\">\n<div class=\"article-author-profile d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center justify-content-md-start\">\n<div class=\"article-author-details\">\n<div class=\"label-md\">Breccan F. Thies<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-author-twitter label-sm d-flex align-items-center mt-10\">             <i class=\"mdi mdi-twitter me-5\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>             <span class=\"visually-hidden\">Visit on Twitter<\/span>            <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BreccanFThies\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"text-decoration-none\">@BreccanFThies<\/a>           <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"col-12 col-md-6 d-flex justify-content-center justify-content-md-end mt-15 mt-md-0\">        <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/author\/breccan-thies\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">More Articles<\/a>     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"article-tags bdr-top-black mt-30 mt-sm-60 pt-15 pt-md-45\">\n<ul class=\"list-unstyled d-flex flex-wrap align-items-center mb-0 mx-n10 p-0\">\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/allison-riggs\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Allison Riggs<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/election-integrity\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">election integrity<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/jefferson-griffin\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Jefferson Griffin<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/marc-elias\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">Marc Elias<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/ncsbe\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">ncsbe<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/north-carolina\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">North Carolina<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/north-carolina-state-board-of-elections\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">North Carolina State Board of Elections<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/overseas-voters\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">overseas voters<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/photo-identification\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">photo identification<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"mt-10 mx-10\"><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/voter-id\/\" class=\"btn btn-black btn-small\">voter ID<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin contests 5,509 overseas ballots in NC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":179,"featured_media":2390676,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-15-123614.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[44644,32644,48570,34222],"class_list":["post-2390675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist","tag-ballot-count","tag-election-integrity","tag-nc-court","tag-voter-id"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-15-123614.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/179"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2390675"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2390679,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2390675\/revisions\/2390679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2390676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2390675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2390675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2390675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}