Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
Shouts and signs of "Riggs Won" and "Shame on Griffin," filled a raucous protest rally of angry voters, denouncing the attempts by Republican judicial candidate Jefferson Griffin to steal an election which he lost by 734 votes after having two official recounts. The election, won by incumbent Associate Justice Allison Riggs, has yet to be certified by the N.C. Board of Elections due to Griffin’s grievance to nullify the votes of 60,000 N.C. voters who cast ballots in the election.
Griffin contends that more than 60,000 ballots are invalid, alleging that those voters — consisting mostly of overseas state residents and military personnel, did not provide photo identification and their voter registration omitted vehicle driver's license numbers or the last four digits of their Social Security numbers.
Out of 5.5 million ballots, Democratic incumbent Justice Riggs eked out a narrow victory over Republican Judge Griffin, whose protest could be determined soon by a Republican-dominated N.C. Supreme Court. Riggs has recused herself from acting on the case.
A dozen “The People v. Griffin” rallies were Feb. 15 across North Carolina. The Greensboro event attracted several hundred people, who crowded into an area of The Mill Entertainment complex in East Greensboro. Half a dozen speakers, including voters in the 2024 election, expressed outrage about the possibility that a court could invalidate their votes.
Alexis Chavis, a junior political science student at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, spoke with disdain, saying:
“So, I would like to ask Judge Griffin, if he’s listening to my voice, one that he is actively trying to silence, why am I listed in your lawsuit if I did everything correctly according to your standards? Why are you actively challenging my vote when I properly listed my driver’s license number on my registration form, when I waited weeks for it to be updated on the state Board of Elections website, and then when I double-checked with the poll worker at my polling site that my registration and address were accurately updated?
Calling Griffin’s election protest unprecedented, Tyler Daye of North Carolina Common Cause, charged, “The 2024 North Carolina Supreme Court Justice race is the only unresolved election in the entire country. Judge Griffin’s goal is to win this election no matter how many voters may get disenfranchised. This is an affront to democracy. Our courts must stand up for the rule of law and not allow this absurd attempt to circumvent the will of the people to succeed. In a democracy, candidates do not get to choose their voters.”
In a high-energy call-and-response moment, former Greensboro City Councilmember and N.C. State Representative Earl Jones said the Griffin challenge threatens democracy. After asking if Griffin and his supporters knew “what time it is,” Jones shouted, “It’s democracy time,” then asked the crowd multiple times, “What time is it?” And prompting the response, “It’s democracy time.”
