Long-running legal saga over N.C. Supreme Court race could pave way for future election challenges, critics warn

Members of both parties have criticized the Republican candidate for challenging certain voting laws after the election had been held.

Nearly six months after the North Carolina Supreme Court election took place, the contest still hasn’t been called and a winner still hasn’t been certified.

That’s almost entirely due to a barrage of litigation from Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin, who sued for more than 65,000 ballots to be thrown out after they had been cast, triggering a sprawling legal saga that is testing some of the most solid precedents of election law. The effort, if successful, could be more than enough to swing the results of the election, as Griffin currently trails Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs by roughly 700 votes.

But even if the push ultimately falls short, Griffin’s critics, who include members of both parties, say it could have long-lasting consequences and pave the way for more candidates to pursue challenges — no matter how legally questionable — to the results of elections decided by narrow margins.

“This is clearly an attempt to manipulate the law and the courts into changing an election result by changing the rules after the election has been held,” said Ann Webb, a policy director with the North Carolina chapter of Common Cause, a government watchdog group.

Griffin’s arguments, Webb said, “require the courts to say, ‘Yes, it’s OK to ask us to change the rules after the election is done.’ And that is where we really see something different and something scary, because there is nothing stopping other candidates from any party in the future from using that same strategy and pointing back to this case.”