Regardless of partial victory, Riggs vows to keep fighting Griffin challenge
A day after the North Carolina Supreme Court granted Justice Allison Riggs a partial victory, she vowed to keep fighting.
Riggs made the promise as the keynote speaker of the 'In Our Court' conference at North Carolina Central University's School of Law. The conference, aimed at explaining the role the judiciary plays in people's lives, was held a day after a significant ruling in the country's only statewide election that remains uncertified.
Riggs won re-election to the state Supreme Court by 734 votes over Judge Jefferson Griffin, who has contested the election results for the last five months.
On April 4, the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled in Griffin's favor, giving challenged voters 15 days to prove their eligibility or have their votes tossed. A week later, the state Supreme Court overturned the ruling, partially ruling against Griffin.
A majority of the challenged votes, about 60,000 that didn't have a driver's license or Social Security number in the state's database, would no longer be thrown out, according to the court's ruling. But the votes from military and overseas voters who didn't provide photo identification could still have their votes thrown out.
Griffin originally challenged about 1,400 of those voters from only Guilford County, but later tried to add thousands more ballots from other largely Democratic counties past the challenge deadline. The Supreme Court didn't specify which counties are included in the order, and estimates range from 2,000 to 7,000 votes are at stake.
'There is nothing less constitutionally problematic about only disenfranchising 7,000 people instead of 67,000 people,' Riggs said. 'And, in fact, I would not accept one eligible voter being disenfranchised.'
State courts are immeasurably important, especially with the United States Supreme Court tossing important issues like political gerrymandering and abortion rights back to the states.
'I want you all to know that the eyes of the country are on the people in this state,' Riggs said. 'Not just because you're a swing state. Not just because we're always in the news. But because we are people of resilience. We are people of community. We take care of one another, and we're going to show the country what it looks like to fight in tough times.'
In the Spotlight designates ongoing topics of high interest that are driven by The News & Observer's focus on accountability reporting.
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