Latest news with #InOurCourt
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NC Justice Allison Riggs vows to fight for military and overseas votes
NC Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs speaks at the In Our Court conference at NCCU (Photo: Lynn Bonner) The day after the state Supreme Court put conditions on military and overseas votes counting in her race, Democratic Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs said she is eager to take the fight over those votes to federal court. 'I was elected to keep my seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court, and I am committed to fighting tirelessly to ensure that the will of North Carolina voters is respected,' Riggs told an audience at NC Central University's law school on Saturday. 'The eyes of the country are on the people of this state,' she said. 'Because we are people of resilience, we are people of community, we're going to show the country what it looks like to fight in tough times.' Riggs was the final speaker at the 'In Our Court' conference, sponsored by Common Cause NC, the American Constitution Society, Emancipate NC, Democracy NC, and about a half dozen other groups. On Friday, a majority on the state Supreme Court decided that thousands of absentee ballots cast by members of the military and overseas voters should have included their photo IDs. The court said those voters would have 30 days to provide IDs after the state Board of Elections mails notices. People who don't provide ID would have their votes in the state Supreme Court election thrown out. The court majority decided a few hundred votes from people who live overseas and are connected to the state through their parents should be erased from the Supreme Court race total. Riggs, the Democratic incumbent, leads Republican challenger Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin by 734 votes. Her lead in last November's election has been confirmed in two recounts. In an effort to unseat her, Griffin sued the state Board of Elections to have more than 60,000 votes tossed out. Most of the voter challenges were based on Griffin's claims of incomplete registrations. A Supreme Court's 4-2 majority reduced the votes in jeopardy to those cast by military and overseas absentee voters. Riggs immediately asked federal District Judge Richard Myers for a preliminary injunction, basically to freeze action in case. Myers on Saturday ordered the elections board to follow the state court's instructions for notifying voters what they have to do to have their votes count, but not to certify the election until hearing more from the court. The board is to tell Myers by Tuesday how many voters could be affected and which counties they're in. Myers also set a schedule for written arguments. The exact number of overseas and military voters affected is unclear. In her dissent, Justice Anita Earls wrote that at least 2,000 to 7,000 military and overseas voters could be affected. Those challenged military and overseas votes could be limited to Guilford County or could include overseas votes from a handful of other heavily Democratic counties Griffin added to his protest. 'They may be military members who have been serving on battlefronts in war zones,' Riggs said Saturday. 'They are foreign service officers who are working to make this whole entire world a safer place to live,' she said. The state's military and overseas voting law is modeled after a federal law meant to encourage service people to vote. These voters were told they did not need to include photo ID with their ballots. Most use an electronic portal that does not allow voters to submit a photo. The majority on the Supreme Court said the state Board should have required overseas voters to supply photo ID. While Riggs has focused her comments on military voters who may be disenfranchised, the challenged group also includes a high proportion of college-aged voters. Griffin has included in his challenge overseas voters from Durham, Forsyth, Buncombe, and Guilford — all counties with significant student populations. The challenged overseas voters in these are five times more likely to be Democrats, said Gunther Peck, founder and co-director of the Student Voting Rights Lab at Duke and NC Central universities. The lab's analysis found that challenged voters in this group are 4.6 times more likely to be between the ages of 18 and 25 than over the age of 65. More than 260 Duke students living aboard and voted absentee had their votes challenged, Peck said. Ann Webb, Common Cause NC policy director, said there are still questions the federal court can decide. A big one is whether it's fair to single out military and overseas voters from a select group of counties. The 'gaping question' of which counties are supposed to be included needs to be resolved, Webb said, and may end up back in state court.
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
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.
