North Carolina’s Supreme Court ruled Friday that most of the contested ballots challenged by the Republican candidate must be counted in the high court’s recent seat race.
The Tar Heel state’s top court said in a 4-2 ruling that a majority of ballots cast by around 60,000 voters, who had some of their information missing, such as Social Security numbers or numbers on their driver’s licenses, have to be counted in the still-uncertified election.
The state’s Supreme Court, which has a Republican majority, held the state board of elections responsible in the Friday decision, which in part overturns the lower court’s ruling from last week that sided with Republican state Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin.
“Under this Court’s longstanding precedent, mistakes made by negligent election officials in registering citizens who are otherwise eligible to vote will not deprive the citizens of their right to vote or render their vote void after they have been cast,” North Carolina’s highest court said.
But the court also said that some ballots could end up being tossed out, giving Griffin, who is challenging the outcome of the November election, an opportunity to overturn Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs’ narrow win.
Therefore, thousands of overseas and military ballots could be thrown out if the voters do not prove their identity in the next month.
The Friday ruling drew rebuke from some Democrats in the state along with a Republican judge who sits on the Tar Heel state’s highest court.
“I expected that, when the time came, our state courts surely would embrace the universally accepted principle that courts cannot change election outcomes by retroactively rewriting the law. I was wrong. The Court of Appeals has since issued an opinion that gets key state law issues wrong, may implicate a host of federal law issues, and invites all the mischief I imagined in the early days of this case,” GOP Judge Richard Dietz wrote in his dissent.
“By every measure, this is the most impactful election-related court decision our state has seen in decades,” the GOP justice added.
Riggs, the incumbent in the race who has recused herself from the court’s deliberations, is ahead of Griffin by less than 1,000 votes.