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Joyner: N.C. Supreme Court election controversy should alarm everyone

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According to at least one political observer, North Carolina African Americans should pay close attention to the post-election controversy between Democratic N.C. Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs and Republican N.C. Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, because it may contain the latest ploy by Republicans to steal an election after they have lost.

In this case, Justice Riggs, one of two Democrats presently on the seven-member state high court, defeated Judge Griffin in the 2024 General Election to keep her seat after winning two recounts, one showing that she outpaced Griffin by over 700 votes.

Normally after a recount (in this case, two), an election is certified, and the N.C. Board of Elections declares the winner. But Griffin has challenged the results, claiming that 60,000 votes should be discounted from the final total because 60,000 voters did not have a driver’s license or partial Social Security number on their voter registration applications.

Republicans have argued for years that those people are not legitimate voters, thus, their votes should be disallowed, but the N.C. Board of Elections disagreed, as did the federal courts months ago.

The matter has been sent to the Republican majority state Supreme Court, which has agreed to review the matter and decide, preventing the State Board of Elections from closing the matter.

If the Republicans on the state Supreme Court decide to disallow the 60,000 votes, not only is Judge Griffin likely to win, but this means 60,000 voters were purged from an election after they had already cast their ballots, in effect, changing the results of an election after it was declared over.

Irving Joyner, professor of law at North Carolina Central University School of Law in Durham, says if Republicans on the state Supreme Court are allowed to change the race between Riggs and Griffin after it is over, it is something African Americans in North Carolina better pay close attention to.

“African Americans should be deeply troubled and fearful of the latest attempts by right-wing Republicans to grab power and destroy constitutionally protected voter rights in North Carolina,” Joyner said. “The attack on voting rights has been a prime target of right-wingers since the Republican take-over of the General Assembly in 2010. That political power grab has resulted in almost total control of the General Assembly and the capture of the Judicial branch of government.”

Joyner continued, “These right-wingers are brazen in their bold efforts to gain total control of the North Carolina government, and the destruction of African Americans’ political power and participation is its principal target. Even though there isn’t a legal basis to throw out the votes of 60,000 legitimate voters, the right-wing oriented Supreme Court is now in a position to further subvert the North Carolina Constitution by endorsing this latest effort.”