News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
A defeated Republican candidate is exploiting ‘an administrative hiccup’ to erase the ballots of 1,576 Buncombe County voters
The ballots cast by 1,576 Buncombe County voters in the Nov. 5 election could be nullified if Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin succeeds in challenging his razor-thin loss to incumbent Associate Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat.
The Buncombe County ballots make up a small fraction of the 60,000 ballots cast by voters across North Carolina that Griffin seeks to erase from the 5.5 million votes counted in that race. His goal is to flip the results by persuading the Republican-dominated state Supreme Court to call for a recount of the balloting minus those targeted voters, or to order a new election.
According to numerous analyses of the targeted voters, a lawsuit filed by Griffin could disqualify a disproportionate number of voters who historically favor Democratic candidates, especially those age 25 and younger.
The lawsuit also disproportionately targets Buncombe County’s Democratic voters by disqualifying the ballots of three times as many registered Democrats as registered Republicans. That impact goes beyond the Democratic Party’s long-existing, though narrower, edge over Republicans in the county.
Griffin’s lawsuit does not identify a single fraudulent ballot among the 60,000 he’s contesting, a point emphasized by opponents and contrary to the basis for most disputed elections.
Instead, the Republican’s challenge alleges that clerical flaws on the targeted voters’ registration records are sufficient to disqualify the ballots despite the fact that the voters played no role in these alleged mistakes.
“This is norm breaking,” said Western Carolina University professor Chris Cooper, an expert on North Carolina elections. “Calling for recounts in close elections is normal. But this is much different.
“Norm-breaking doesn’t begin to describe this.”
Several Buncombe County voters targeted in the lawsuit responded with a mix of confusion about how they allegedly violated election law, and anger over the prospect of having their votes nullified.
“I don’t think there could be anything I did that would make my ballot illegitimate,” said Esther Holsen of West Asheville, a North Carolina resident since 1992 who has been voting since 1976.
“But I’m not so much shocked as I am annoyed because, at this point, just about anything can happen in politics,” said Holsen, a Democrat.
John Nicolay, a self-described independent voter who said he prefers to choose candidates based on merit rather than party affiliation, told The Watchdog that he is beyond annoyed.

“If my ballot is tossed, I will have a big problem [with being targeted] because someone just negated my right to vote,” he said. “Forget what party you’re in, I don’t buy that.”
Anthony Turco and his wife Sally Turco, Republicans who live in Weaverville, learned they were on the targeted list when Anthony was contacted by The Watchdog. He said the couple registered to vote together at the county elections department in 2011 and provided all the information requested and showed proper photo identification when they participated in early voting.
“I don’t have any idea about what this could be about,” Turco said.
Of the more than 5.5 million ballots cast in the state Supreme Court race, Riggs prevailed by 734 votes. Despite two recounts and reviews by a county and the state Board of Elections, Griffin failed to close the gap.
But he refused to concede defeat, choosing instead to file the lawsuit seeking a court-ordered recount of the reshaped electorate minus the targeted voters or – in a hail-Mary move – persuading the state Supreme Court to call a new special election.
In both cases, Griffin’s goal is to reverse the election outcome and boot Riggs from the Supreme Court. The Court accepted jurisdiction in the case and held a preliminary hearing earlier this month, putting itself in the unprecedented position of interfering in a campaign to choose a colleague.
Five of the Supreme Court’s seven members are Republicans and, because Riggs has recused herself from the case, the Republicans will hold a 5-1 majority when considering Griffin’s challenge.
The case has drawn the attention of critics across the country, including Democrats who say Riggs could be the victim of judicial gerrymandering. The mantra “stop the steal” is being applied by Riggs supporters in a twist of that phrase coinedby Donald Trump supporters after he lost the 2020 presidential election.
At the core of the criticism is Griffin’s mass targeting of more than 60,000 voters based on these voters’ alleged failures to record driver’s license or Social Security numbers on their electronic registrations. Griffin also targeted only those voters who participated in early voting, apparently because their ballots could be readily obtained and cross-tabulated against the other criteria.
Complicating the case is the fact that if Griffin’s lawsuit succeeds, it will also impact other state and county races in which the targeted voters cast ballots, possibly reversing the result in some.
Cooper, the political analyst, said the prospect of creating cascading chaos in countless other races to satisfy Griffin may prove too daunting for even a Republican majority on the Court.
A more likely outcome, he said, would be for the Supreme Court to throw out the entire results of the Griffin-Riggs race and order a special election.
“The court might say, ‘We can’t simply take away these people’s ballots when some of them may have done the right thing,’ but,” Cooper continued, “there was an administrative hiccup somewhere, so therefore they’ll call for a brand new election.”
The Griffin campaign didn’t respond to written questions from The Watchdog seeking an explanation for the mass-targeting tactic and whether Griffin had concerns about a voter backlash. Matt Mercer, the state GOP’s communications director, has defended the tactic saying that discrepancies in the voter data files were brought to the state Board of Elections’ attention two years ago and no action was taken.
Whether the campaign developed an algorithm to target voters more likely to back the Democratic candidate still remains a puzzle for election analysts. Among the 60,000 challenged voters are many registered in both major parties, as well as those independents registered as unaffiliated.
But deliberate or not, there is evidence that the targeted group leans more toward Democratic candidates than the state’s electorate as a whole. An analysis by the Raleigh News & Observer found that voters between ages 18 and 25 are disproportionately included.
These young voters make up 23 percent of the challenged group, although they are just 12 percent of the electorate. Cooper said this group historically favors Democrats over Republicans.
A Watchdog analysis of the 1,576 Buncombe County voters found that Democrats outnumbered Republicans in the targeted group by a ratio of nearly three to one, although Democrats’ edge is just three to two among all Buncombe County voters.
With rare exceptions, these voters shared the fact that they cast their ballots in person during the early voting period, and their original county voter-registration record lacked driver’s license numbers.
The law, which took effect in 2004, doesn’t require a voter to have a driver’s license and allows several alternative forms of identification such as government-issued IDs, passports and birth certificates. A new state law that took effect in 2024 requires a voter to show an authorized ID when casting a ballot during in-person voting.
Cooper said he doubts the Griffin campaign developed an algorithm to scan the 2024 ballots with the intention of cherry-picking those most likely cast for his opponent and increasing his chances of reversing the outcome. Rather they saw the records’ discrepancies as a way to legitimize a lawsuit.
“Griffin needed to find a legal horse he could ride to get into court,” Cooper said. “It’s as simple as that.”
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Tom Fiedler is a Pulitzer Prize-winning political reporter and dean emeritus from Boston University who lives in Asheville. Email him at tfiedler@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s reporting is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Democratic AGs allege Trump administration is freezing federal funds despite court order • NC Newsline
SUMMARY: Democratic attorneys general filed an emergency motion asking a federal judge to enforce a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration, alleging it has failed to comply with a court ruling regarding federal funding. They highlighted confusion over the suspension of various financial assistance programs and noted that important initiatives, such as Head Start programs and NIH grants, have been halted. U.S. Senator Patty Murray emphasized the negative impact of this funding freeze on local economies and employment. The judge has requested a response from the Department of Justice by Sunday amid ongoing debates over the funding situation.
The post Democratic AGs allege Trump administration is freezing federal funds despite court order • NC Newsline appeared first on ncnewsline.com
News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
Cross-country storm set to bring more snow to Northeast
SUMMARY: The Tennessee Highway Patrol is investigating tornado damage in Deer Lodge, urging people to avoid the area. In Kentucky, an EF1 tornado caused destruction in Hart County, while a wintry mix affected New England, leading to multiple accidents on I95. Massachusetts Turnpike faced tractor-trailer incidents, and Connecticut officials warned about maintaining safe distances on the roads. Pennsylvania reported stranded vehicles amid approaching storms expected to bring significant snowfall to Minnesota and Wisconsin, with winter storm watches issued for parts of New York and New Jersey. In California, heavy rains caused landslides, resulting in two fatalities and dramatic rescues. Meanwhile, the South experienced record-high temperatures.

The storm that brought heavy rain and mountain snow to the West Coast is making the trek across the country to bring a significant snowstorm to the Northeast this weekend.
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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed
All Buncombe County river debris cleanups should be finished by June 1, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says • Asheville Watchdog
Unsightly debris that has plagued mountain rivers since Helene’s destructive flooding Sept. 27 will be removed by June 1, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Friday, and that includes downed trees and vegetation as well as vehicles, appliances and other storm debris.
“So we’ve got pretty clear guidance from the state as well as FEMA, in terms of our target goals, to get this mission completed,” Corps Col. Brad Morgan told a press gathering Friday afternoon at the Swannanoa River. “So the mission you see behind me, the waterway mission, our target for completion is June 1.”
That includes all waterways in 25 counties, Morgan said. In Buncombe County, that means the Swannanoa and French Broad Rivers, which were deluged with fallen trees, ruined vehicles, propane tanks and other detritus, are scheduled to be cleaned up by June 1.
The deadline for the Corps’ private property debris removal mission is June 30, Morgan said, and April 1 for right-of-way debris removal.
“So that’s very loud, that’s very clear — those are the dates that FEMA, the Corps of Engineers, and the state of North Carolina, as well as some of the other counties (that) are also using their own contracts, their own capability, to work the debris — we’ve all agreed to these dates, and we’re all working to push to meet those dates right now,” Morgan said.
Morgan said river debris removal work started in Buncombe County on Feb. 1, and 16,000 cubic yards of debris were cleared in six days along about two miles of river. The Corps estimates it will have to remove 1 million cubic yards of debris by June 1, although Morgan said that number will likely rise.
Morgan, as well as Rob Ray, a vice president with the primary debris removal contractor, AshBritt, and Buncombe County Solid Waste Manager Dane Pedersen, addressed the news conference. They previously had given elected officials and city and county officials a tour of the work.
They stood by the Swannanoa River off Old Farm School Road, where two large Ponsse timber machines crawled through the river behind them, snatching up fallen trees and limbs and placing them into a hopper for removal.
“Obviously, we’re continuing to ramp up our staff and our crews,” Morgan said. “We expect to have 10 working by this weekend, with another 20 to 25 within the next week.”
Work on French Broad in RAD to begin soon
Work on the French Broad River in the River Arts District will start soon, but Morgan said because the river is deeper there they’ll have to bring in different types of equipment, including small barges.
Morgan and Ray said contracts were in place before President Donald Trump visited Swannanoa on Jan. 24, issuing an executive order and vowing to speed up the recovery process. Trump’s order, and another from North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein, helped expedite the work, Morgan said.
“FEMA provides me my mission assignments to the Corps of Engineers to do the work,” Morgan said. “So we were extremely close to getting to where we are today prior to the executive order, and that just helped us push over, break through some of those bottlenecks to get actually into what we’re seeing behind me.”
Morgan said the Corps has about $500 million in contracts in place right now for cleanup, “and I expect that number to continue to grow.”
Ray said the flood damage here is the worst he’s seen in 23 years in the industry. His company will double crews to 16 in the area in the coming week, meaning more than 250 workers will be on the cleanup job.
The job is difficult because of the mix of debris present in the river.
“You can very easily see all the woody debris, but in a lot of these piles of that woody debris, you’re going to find household hazardous waste,” Ray said. “You’re going to find crushed vehicles in the larger piles — basically anything that’s in your home or in a building, we’re going to find in these streams.”
AshBritt has to separate the debris, recycle what’s possible and then take what remains to collection sites in Enka and Beacon Village.
Pedersen said so far about 1 million cubic yards of debris has been removed in Buncombe County.
Amanda Edwards, chair of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, termed the news “significant progress for Buncombe County.”
“I am grateful for the work of the Army Corps, AshBritt and the support from our federal and state officials for keeping their foot on the gas pedal and not forgetting that western North Carolina exists,” Edwards said. “And thank you to the residents of Buncombe County for your patience and reminding us how important this work is to recovery and to rebuilding Buncombe County back even stronger.”
Asked why it has taken more than four months to get the river debris rolling, Morgan said, “It’s been a combination of a multitude of things.” That includes securing permission from private property owners for the debris removal, securing proper entry to the river, conducting site and hazard assessments, and then securing contractors.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. John Boyle has been covering Asheville and surrounding communities since the 20th century. You can reach him at (828) 337-0941, or via email at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org. The Watchdog’s local reporting during this crisis is made possible by donations from the community. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
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