An estimated 500 people came out in freezing temperatures Monday afternoon in Asheville’s Pack Square to protest a losing Republican candidate’s attempts to disqualify more than 65,000 votes statewide — including more than 2,000 in Buncombe County — in an effort to overturn November’s election of Democrat Allison Riggs to the state Supreme Court.
Two official recounts confirmed that Jefferson Griffin, the Republican challenger, narrowly lost to Riggs for a seat on the state’s highest court. Griffin and the state Republican Party have filed multiple lawsuits and requests to stop official certification of Riggs’s victory. Still, more than three months after the election, Griffin refuses to concede. He is appealing his case to the state Supreme Court, which has a 5-to-2 Republican majority.
Griffin’s latest challenge argues that thousands of absentee ballots filed by military members and their families in Buncombe and three other heavily Democratic counties were counted unlawfully.
Monday’s rally in Asheville, dubbed “The People vs Griffin” by organizers, was one of more than a dozen held in cities across the state. Sponsors included Common Cause, ACLU North Carolina, Democracy NC, League of Women Voters, Carolina Federation, EmaNCipate, Carolina Jews for Justice, and North Carolina Council of Churches.
Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Peter H. Lewis is The Watchdog’s executive editor and a former senior writer and editor at The New York Times. Contact him at plewis@avlwatchdog.org. To show your support for this vital public service go to avlwatchdog.org/support-our-publication/.
