"We will bring this home": North Carolina Democrats confident they'll defeat GOP election denial

Speaking from an office in a bright fuchsia blouse, North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs thanked her supporters for caring about democracy in her state, the United States and worldwide over the last several months.

"I am so touched and heartened by your support from Murphy to Manteo — and England, apparently," she told some 1,200 attendees of a virtual volunteer mobilizing event last Friday.

The Democratic incumbent has been embroiled in a contentious legal battle over her victory in what has become the nation's last uncertified election since the end of last year. Riggs beat her opponent, Appellate Judge Jefferson Griffin, by just 734 votes, a slim margin twice confirmed by recounts. With the number of contested ballots now down to nearly 2,000 — from the initial tens of thousands Griffin first argued should be thrown out — Riggs vowed to never give up her fight to protect her constituents' right to vote.

"We will not give up — never, ever, ever give up, and we don't have to finish the work, but we can't abandon it," Riggs said. "So however long I'm called on for this fight, however long you all are willing to stand with me, we will bring this home for all of us."

Nearly six months ago, her 2024 opponent, Appellate Judge Jefferson Griffin, filed his election protests, challenging more than 65,000 votes he said were invalid and arguing they should be tossed out. He claimed that mail-in and early voters neglected to provide or weren't asked to provide identification information on their registrations, overseas voters failed to include a copy of their photo IDs with their absentee ballots, and a small crop of voters, whom North Carolina ensured could vote through a 2011 law, had never physically lived in the state. He has argued that discounting those votes, which largely come from Democratic counties, would secure his win.

After months of progressing through state court, federal court and state court once more, the North Carolina Court of Appeals earlier this month ruled in Griffin's favor, ordering the state Board of Elections to outline a process for overseas voters and those with incomplete voter registrations to cure their ballots. The few hundred "Never Resident" voters would be excluded from the count altogether.

In another decision shortly thereafter, the North Carolina Supreme Court declined to take up Riggs' appeal but instead ruled that the 60,000 "Incomplete Voter Registration" ballots will count, extended the period of time overseas and military voters had to cure their ballots and upheld the exclusion of "Never Resident" votes.

Since then, the case has returned to federal court, where the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina has consolidated it with two other lawsuits related to Griffin and the state GOP's election protest, including one filed by impacted voters in mid-April. The state Elections Board has also determined that up to 1,409 overseas voters registered in Guilford County are at risk of disenfranchisement should they fail to cure their ballots, alongside another 266 "Never Resident" voters registered in 53 counties.

Last week, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a temporary pause on the previously ordered cure process, pending the district court's decision. With the final briefing deadline on Monday, a decision could come as early as this week.

Riggs told supporters Friday that she doesn't believe the cure process should happen because voters did nothing wrong.

"I know that it would be a short-term victory if we just went out and chased all these votes and fixed it," she said. "What that would open the door to is any disgruntled politician anywhere in the country saying, 'If I don't like the election outcome, let me decide which election rule I can challenge to cancel some of my opponent's votes, and then, hurrah, I win.' That is not acceptable."

As other North Carolina Democratic Party leaders spoke, event organizers shared links to the necklace Riggs flashed earlier in the evening — an $88 "Vote" necklace from North Carolina's own Kenda Kist Jewelry, which will contribute a portion of the proceeds to backing Riggs' legal fight — and the party's Act Blue fundraising page should they want to donate directly.

The North Carolina Democrats' director of voter protection answered participants' deep legal questions about the future of the case as it plays out in federal court and how the parties are funding the battle. Meanwhile, a Carolina Federation organizer briefed attendees on the party's call to action for the evening: "hurry up and wait."

With the cure process on hold in court, previously planned events to help voters cure ballots have also been put on pause.

"I don't want you to think that we are sitting on our hands, not getting ready for if we need to chase and cure. Because I promise you, if we need to chase and cure, we will do it, we will confirm my victory, and it will, in the end, get us to where we need to be, which is putting people on the courts who are going to put the Constitution and the rule of law over partisan politics," Riggs said.

The team is currently working to update the Griffin List website, where voters can check whether their vote is impacted; researching how best to reach affected voters and build relationships with organizations that can connect them; building strategies and scripts for door-knocking and phone banking; and collecting data on and contact information for voters and their family members.

In the interim, Riggs encouraged supporters to connect with and inform concerned voters now. Event organizers also shared a volunteer sign-up sheet for those willing to be on-call and jump in if the federal courts uphold the state-level rulings.

Though she recognized how dizzying following the case to this point could be, Riggs reminded attendees that the ultimate outcome of her race and the result of the legal battle could have far-reaching implications across the country.

"It's a fight worth having because a North Carolina problem today is a Michigan and an Arizona and a Georgia problem tomorrow," Riggs said. "And yes, 68,000 voters is way too many, 8,600 is too many, 1,600 is too many. One voter disenfranchised is one voter too many. This is a fight worth having. It's a fight that we were made for."