The losing Republican candidate for the state Supreme Court is attempting a new and controversial tactic to flip the outcome of the Nov. 5 election: erasing the absentee ballots of 5,059 active-duty military and American citizens living abroad who are registered in Buncombe and three other Democratic-leaning counties. 

Jefferson Griffin of Raleigh, a former state appellate judge, came up 734 votes short in an attempt to unseat incumbent state Supreme Court Associate Justice Allison Riggs, a Democrat. Despite two recounts and a decision by the state’s Board of Elections naming Riggs the winner, Griffin refuses to concede. 

Backed by the Republican National Committee and the state Republican Party, he filed a lawsuit to block the Board of Elections from certifying Riggs’s victory. The state Supreme Court, operating with a 5-1 Republican majority as Riggs has recused herself from the case, has agreed to consider the lawsuit.   

Although Griffin’s challenge cites no voter fraud, he alleges that clerical errors should disqualify as many as 66,000 voter registrations. The lawsuit asks the state Supreme Court to throw out those ballots and then recount the remainder in each of North Carolina’s 100 counties. 

Latest challenge targets blue counties

Those targeted ballots fall into two groups. The first and largest group of about 60,000 ballots across the state were cast by voters in person during the early-voting period. Among those targeted ballots are 1,596 from Buncombe County, which voted by a nearly two-to-one margin against Griffin. 

The second group now being targeted by Griffin – including 5,059 voters — has become the focus of his strategy to upend the Nov. 5 count. It is crafted to disqualify a disproportionate number of Democrats in targeted counties to give the Republican the victory. 

This group consists entirely of American citizens living overseas. It includes military personnel; Foreign Service and federal government employees; missionaries; and academics studying or teaching abroad. The ballots are cast in accordance with the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which allows Americans living overseas to register as absentee voters in a state of their choice.

Griffin alleges that these voters should be disqualified because they failed to provide photo IDs with their ballots. The North Carolina State Board of Elections ruled before last year’s election that UOCAVA voters do not need to provide photo identification. 

The investigative-reporting initiative ProPublica reported Tuesday that Griffin, while in the North Carolina Army National Guard, cast absentee ballots in 2019 and 2020 under the UOCAVA program. His campaign declined comment to a ProPublica reporter. 

Griffin’s lawsuit asks the state Supreme Court to erase those military and overseas ballots in only four of North Carolina’s 100 counties: Buncombe, Durham, Guilford and Forsythe. Democratic Party voters constitute a majority or plurality in each of those counties, and each voted heavily in favor of Riggs, the incumbent Democrat.

“It’s very clear that this is not about election integrity,” a spokesperson for Riggs told Asheville Watchdog. “This is Griffin’s ‘hail-Mary’ attempt to overturn the election. It’s even beyond last ditch.” 

In Buncombe County alone, Riggs defeated Griffin by 42,620 votes. If the state Supreme Court agrees with Griffin’s request to throw out the 2,692 challenged Buncombe ballots from both groups, the Republican candidate could surpass the 734 votes he needs to win. 

Blowback from military voters

Griffin hasn’t disguised the partisan goal of this tactic. In the opening brief filed with the high court seeking to block the State Elections Board from certifying Riggs’ victory, Griffin argues that “if the Court agrees that overseas voters should have presented a photo identification, there will probably be no need for the Court to reach the other two election protests,” including nullifying the remaining group of 60,000 ballots cast in the early voting period in all 100 counties. 

If the military absentee votes are disqualified but the outcome doesn’t shift to Griffin’s advantage, the GOP lawsuit states, it intends to continue pursuing the other protests.

But this tactic also risks blowback from across the political spectrum. Several military voters named in the lawsuit were contacted by The Watchdog through text messaging; all reacted with disapproval to Griffin’s targeting of voters without evidence of fraud.

“Being military and serving in countries where the people did not have the ability to vote, has highlighted the importance of the precious right,” Bobby Buckner, 55, a registered Republican, wrote. “I would caution this candidate that eroding or challenging our rights to vote because someone does not like the outcome, goes against the very reason I chose to serve my country: freedom and the ability to have a voice.”

“I hope [Griffin] will realize the importance of our service members’ right to vote and will reconsider this challenge and the costly price to freedom that overturning our votes would be,” Buckner wrote.

Chase Tipton, an unaffiliated voter who declined to say where he is stationed, said he didn’t know about the lawsuit until contacted by The Watchdog. 

“I signed to serve my country and have followed proper protocol for casting my vote from out of state,” he replied. “My vote should count the same as any other.” 

Hospital Corpsman Doug Davis, who wrote that he is deployed with the Fleet Marine Force in the “Central Command Area,” which encompasses the Middle East, said he also was unaware that his ballot was being challenged. 

“Per federal law, my ballot was valid,” Davis wrote. “[Griffin’s] actions are not only illegal, but it discourages service members from voting.” 

As for Griffin’s refusal to concede, Davis wrote: “That’s ridiculous. He should just take his loss.” 

Final briefs are due to the state Supreme Court by the end of this week. No timetable has been set for a decision.

Meanwhile, a counter-lawsuit brought by the State Board of Elections to move the case into federal court is going forward in the federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The suit argues that the state Supreme Court, with its overwhelming Republican majority, isn’t capable of objectively ruling on fellow-Republican Griffin’s case. Arguments are scheduled for Jan. 27 in that lawsuit. 

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/.

Related