The candidate of the Supreme Court of the Republican State, Jefferson Griffin, said before a court deposit That more than 500 people who voted in the recent election of the Supreme Court of the State have never lived in North Carolina or the United States. This data point has surfaced on Wednesday in the legal dispute concerning the electoral competition of Griffin with Democrat Allison Riggs.
Griffin initially challenged after the electoral bulletins of November 5 of 267 voters which he described as “never residents”. But a series of memoirs deposited on Wake County on Waks on Wednesday reveals that Griffin believes that the number is much higher.
Riggs leads Griffin with 734 votes out of 5.5 million voting bulletins placed during the November 5 elections. A temporary stay of the highest court in North Carolina blocks the State Board of Elections to certify Riggs as a winner. Griffin argued that the abolition of “illegal” ballots would probably change the result of the elections in his favor.
In three categories of demonstrations, Griffin targets more than 65,000 ballots on the whole. Riggs and the State Elections Council should respond in writing to Griffin’s latest judicial deposits on Monday. A Superior Court of February 7 audience is planned in Raleigh to approach the electoral dispute.
Griffin’s “Never Residents” have been the smallest group of voters in its initial ballot challenges. These voters are generally adult voter children who had a North Carolina residence before moving abroad.
“Our state constitution limits the voters of state offices to people who really live in North Carolina,” the lawyers of Griffin wrote. “Nevertheless, the Council of State allowed around 267 people to vote in the protected elections which never resided in North Carolina or elsewhere in the United States. These voters identify as such, indicating a form “I am a citizen of the USS (sic) living outside the country, and I have never lived in the United States”. Counting these ballots is illegal. »»
The griffin figure of 267 voters was based on “the data of the Council of State for a limited number of counties”, according to a footnote in the file of the court.
With additional data from the county elections, “it is obvious that at least 405 residents never voted in the elections,” added the footnote.
“However, we do not know exactly how many residents have never voted during the elections, and if this figure is more or less than the current voting margin in the protest elections,” the lawyers of Griffin wrote. “Since the board of directors rejected this demonstration, five other counties have produced files indicating 111 other residents who voted in the elections, bringing the total (to) 516.”
“Currently, 60 counties have still not responded to requests for public files on the number of people never passed during the elections. It is possible that this irregularity has changed the result of the election, but as most counties have not responded to requests from public files, it is not certain that this irregularity, holding alone, is decisive of the results “Concluded the footnote.
Beyond the voters who have never lived in North Carolina, Griffin disputes 5,509 voting bulletins for foreign voters who have not provided proof of photo identification. These ballots are limited to six largest urban counties who tend to vote for Democratic candidates.
A separate footnote explained that Griffin’s lawyers had asked for information to “six counties in which a local electoral official confirmed that the county council had accepted the ballots abroad without requiring a photo identification ». The footnote does not indicate if the candidate’s lawyers tried to contact other counties to solve the same problem.
Griffin’s lawyers have obtained mixed results obtaining lists of voters affected from the counties who responded to their requests. Griffin also asked the Council of Elections of the State to soften the County Electoral Board for Information: “But the Council of State did not do so.”
The third, the largest category of targeted voting bulletins, involved more than 60,000 voters who seemed to have registration files for incomplete voters.
“The Council of State is an administrative agency which has violated the law for decades, while refusing to correct its errors,” wrote the lawyers of Griffin. “This anarchy was brought to the attention of the Commission in 2023 and again in 2024, both before the general elections of 2024, but the Council refused to respect the law. Now these chickens have come home to perch. »»
“During the general elections of 2024, the Council’s errors changed the result of the elections for the open seat of the Supreme Court of North Carolina,” said Griffin’s court documents. “When these errors were noted during valid electoral demonstrations, the board of directors then said it was too late to repair its violation of laws.”
“Basically, this case presents a fundamental question: who decides on our electoral laws? Is it the people and their elected officials, or the non-elected bureaucrats sitting on the Council of State elections? If the board of directors is making its way, it is the real sovereign here. He can ignore electoral laws and constitutional provisions, while administering an election as she wishes, “wrote the lawyers of Griffin.
Each memory focuses on one of the three categories of Griffin voting bulletins. A Target more than 60,000 “voting bulletins that have been spent by people who did not legally register to vote”, according to the thesis.
“Since 2004, the law of the State has forced candidates for voters to provide their driving license or its social security number before registering legally to vote. However, the Council of State has chosen to ignore this law for decades, “the Griffin lawyers wrote. “Thus, around 60,000 people voted in the protected judicial race without providing that the information required legally on their electoral requests. These voters were not allowed to vote in this race because they were not “legally registered” to vote. »»
A second Short Targeted more than 5,500 “correspondence ballots deposited by people who have not provided a photo identification with their ballots”.
“Thousands of voters abroad have voted ballots without providing their photo identification. But the law of the state requires that all voters provide a photo identification to vote; Voters abroad who voted ballots by absent do not obtain special treatment. The board of directors has violated the law counting these ballots, “said Griffin’s lawyers.
The third Short underlined the “never residents”. “Since 1776, our Constitution of State has limited eligible voters in state races to residents of North Carolina. But the ballots have been accepted in the Supreme Court of people born outside the United States and have never lived anywhere in the United States. Counting the votes of these “residents never” was illegal “, according to the memory.
While Griffin, Riggs and the State Elections Council progress with state legal proceedings, they are waiting for a decision of the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. This court heard oral arguments Monday. Riggs, the Council of Elections and the groups of activists on the left in collaboration with the law firm of the Democratic operator Marc Elias all asked the 4th circuit to overthrow the decision of a federal trial judge to refer the case of the Federal Court before the State Court.
It is not known if a decision of the 4th circuit promoting the Riggs and the Council of elections interrupting the legal proceedings of the State. Riggs lawyer asked the federal appeal panel of three judges to make a decision before the hearing scheduled for February 7 before the State Court.
