Hundreds of protesters gathered Monday in downtown Raleigh over a case that could decide a seat on North Carolina’s State Supreme Court.
The contest between incumbent Democrat Allison Riggs and Republican Jefferson Griffin remains unresolved as Griffin disputes the eligibility of more than 60,000 voters.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Hundreds of people came Monday to speak out against Griffin’s challenge. They said Riggs won the race, and they described Griffin’s case as frivolous.
Griffin has raised several issues with voter eligibility. He claims ballots that were cast by overseas voters who have never lived in North Carolina. He has also argued that thousands of voter registrations are invalid due to missing information.
Raleigh resident Jenna Marrocco voted early, in-person, and then learned after the election that her registration from 2016 might be missing some information. She’s one of the voters being challenged by Griffin.
“I did fix it after the fact, after this has been going on, but I believe that having your license with you when you vote should still count,” Marrocco said at the rally. “[It] makes me feel like my vote doesn't matter a little bit, especially for a first-time voter.”
Griffin didn’t respond to a request for comment. But the North Carolina Republican Party provided a statement, saying the demonstrators “are protesting against following the law and counting the legal votes of North Carolina citizens.”
The state elections board said recently that it has verified the necessary information for about 31,000 of the more than 60,000 voters, suggesting their votes are valid.
Research is still ongoing into the other individual cases. In the meantime, state elections officials are asking the state Supreme Court to take up the case in an effort to bypass the state Court of Appeals, on which Griffin is a judge. Griffin has recused himself from the case.