by Sarah Michels, Carolina Public Press May 6, 2025
A federal judge ordered the state to certify Democratic Justice Allison Riggs as the winner of a long contested 2024 state Supreme Court race in a ruling late Monday evening.
The ruling signifies a major victory for Riggs, but it may not be the end of the saga. Her opponent, Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin, may appeal the decision. If he does, the case could be headed to the U.S. Supreme Court in the coming weeks or months.
After Griffin came up 734 votes short in the race between him and Riggs back in November, he filed a series of election protests calling for certain categories of voters to be removed from the vote tally.
They included those whose voter registrations were allegedly missing a driver’s license or Social Security number; overseas and military absentee voters who did not include a copy of their photo ID with their ballot; and so-called “Never Residents” who voted under inherited North Carolina residency through their parents or legal guardians.
Together, these protests implicated 62,000 voters. For now, they can breathe easier.
So can Riggs. At the moment.
“Today, we won,” Riggs said in a statement on Monday night. “I’m proud to continue upholding the Constitution and the rule of law as North Carolina’s Supreme Court Justice.”
Griffin was, as he has been for the past six months, mum on the issue.
The North Carolina Republican Party also stayed quiet. There has been no appeal yet, though Myers gave parties a week to file one before his order goes into effect.
Griffin faces calls to concede from many, mostly Democratic groups.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a statement that the ruling affirmed that people decide elections, not politicians. “Today, a Trump-appointed judge confirmed what North Carolinians have known since Election Day: Justice Allison Riggs belongs on the state Supreme Court.”
There’s a chance Griffin might concede the election at this point, said Western Carolina University political science professor Chris Cooper. Themessenger may be just as important as the message, he explained. And the messenger wasn’t exactly a liberal judge.
“You’ve got a Trump-appointed judge who was fairly unequivocal in the order and in the decision,” Cooper said. “This didn’t leave a lot of wiggle room.”
But nothing has been predictable in this case thus far.
Whether other losing candidates copy Griffin’s playbook may depend on the final outcome in the case as well as what happens to Griffin himself, Cooper added. “If this is the end of his political career, then I think it’s going to diminish the likelihood that somebody goes forward,” he said. “If, however, he lands on his feet, then I worry that the opposite lesson might be learned, that there was essentially no consequence to pressing this as far as it would go.”
How did we get here?
Before the case ended up in federal court, North Carolina courts handed Griffin partial wins.
The N.C. Court of Appeals, where Griffin sits, affirmed each of his protests and established a 15-day process for two of the three categories of voters to fix problems with their voter registration or photo ID. Never Residents, the third category, were declared to be illegal voters because they did not meet the state constitution’s residency requirements.
Later, the state Supreme Court softened the appellate court’s ruling a bit, by dismissing the largest protest of about 60,000 challenged voters — those with incomplete voter registrations — and doubling the length of the cure process to address problems concerning military and overseas absentee voters.
The court agreed that Never Residents should be removed from the count, though.
Both courts hold Republican majorities. Riggs, who keeps her seat on the state Supreme Court until a successor is certified, recused herself from the case.
After the state Supreme Court’s decision, Riggs appealed to federal court. A federal appeals court eventually paused the cure process — the scope of which was disputed — until the court could fully consider the case.
Now, that time has arrived.
Federal court orders Riggs certification
Federal District Judge Richard E. Myers II oversaw the case. Myers, a Donald Trump appointee, has seen Griffin’s arguments before, albeit from a different source.
Before the election, Myers ruled in a separate case about whether 225,000 North Carolina voters whose registrations allegedly lacked driver’s licenses and Social Security numbers should be considered eligible.
The state and national Republican Party asked Myers to mandate that the State Board of Elections contact and verify the eligibility of each of the contested voters by September 2024. The state elections board argued that the lawsuit, filed in August, was too close to the 2024 general election for any immediate remedy.
In late November, Myers agreed. He wrote that the issues of the case would exist after the 2024 election. Additionally, future court decisions in the case could apply to future elections, but would not have any bearing on the most recent one.
On Monday, Myers affirmed what he said nearly six months prior in a 68-page order.
The rules were “settled at the time of the 2024 election,” he wrote.
Overseas and military absentee voters were told they did not need to attach photo IDs, based on the state election board’s interpretation of North Carolina law. Myers noted that there was time to challenge the state election board’s rule before the election, but no challenges came until after the votes were tallied.
The U.S. Constitution does not allow states to change the rules after an election or apply those rule changes “retroactively to only a select group of voters,” he wrote. That would risk putting the integrity of an election in question, he added.
Furthermore, the 30-day cure process established by the state Supreme Court is unfair, Myers wrote, because only a select subset of overseas and military absentee voters who were identified and challenged by Griffin would have to jump through this extra hoop while similar voters in other counties would not.
Griffin only challenged absentee voters in six Democratic-leaning counties, and only Guilford County was included in the protests filed before the deadline.
However, there are overseas and military absentee voters in every North Carolina county who did not submit a photo ID. That unequal treatment is unconstitutional, Myers said.
Finally, denying Never Residents an opportunity to prove that they actually have state residency and were wrongly challenged before removing them from the count is too heavy a burden on the right to vote, he wrote.
If challenged votes were removed from the count, it would cause irreparable damage to state residents’ constitutional right to vote, Myers wrote.
So, the election results must be certified as they stand, Myers ordered. Riggs can keep her seat on the state Supreme Court. And the state elections board may not implement the cure process.
“You establish the state rules before the game,” Myers concluded. “You don’t change them after the game is done.”
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Center-Left
The content demonstrates a center-left bias by highlighting a legal victory for a Democratic justice and framing the Republican challenges as attempts to disenfranchise certain voter groups. While it provides detailed legal context and quotes from both sides, the narrative subtly favors the Democratic perspective by emphasizing voter rights and constitutional protections. It avoids extremist language and presents factual information, positioning itself closer to a center-left viewpoint.
When will Helene-damaged Broadmoor Golf Course be ready for play? FernLeaf Charter School back in business in previously flooded location? • Asheville Watchdog
The Broadmoor Golf Course near Asheville Regional Airport, owned by the airport and leased to DreamCatcher Hotels, suffered over $10 million in flood damage from Tropical Storm Helene. DreamCatcher is rebuilding the course, clubhouse, and maintenance buildings using insurance and company funds, aiming to reopen in spring 2026. Meanwhile, FernLeaf Community Charter School in Fletcher, flooded by Helene, reopened its elementary Creek Campus after nearly a year with new modular buildings. Despite challenges, including ongoing construction and flooding risks, the school rebuilt on its original site with community support and flood insurance, celebrating resilience and continued education.
Today’s round of questions, my smart-aleck replies and the real answers:
Question: The Broadmoor Golf Course near the airport suffered catastrophic damage during the floods of Helene. Only the driving range has been able to operate. But now there is great activity that looks like the course is being rebuilt. I think the property belongs to the airport, and it is contracted out for management. Who is paying for this work, and when might the course be ready again for play?
My answer: I do miss playing this course, mainly because it’s not often I get a chance to hit a wayward shot onto an interstate, in this case I-26. Usually my drives are confined to the woods or a simple two-lane road.
Real answer: In short, a lot is going on at Broadmoor, which is located off Airport Road about a mile from Asheville Regional. The airport does own the property, but it leases the golf course to a company, DreamCatcher Hotels, which operates the golf course and plans to build a hotel on the property.
Zeke Cooper, president and CEO of DreamCatcher, told me his company has a 50-year lease, and it is committed to site improvements.
“As always planned, we are developing a hotel on the property, which we plan to start site work on later this year,” Cooper said via email.
Tropical Storm Helene inundated the Broadmoor Golf Links course, causing over $10 million in damage. // Photo provided by DreamCatcher Hotels
Helene, which struck our area Sept. 27, inundated the golf course and clubhouse. The French Broad River is close by, and the property is, as the name implies, relatively flat.
“The golf course lost over 1,000 trees and had 12-18 inches of silt covering 60-70 percent of the course,” Cooper said. “The first step was to remove all of the tree debris and remove the silt.”
The company finished that in April, and golf course reconstruction started shortly thereafter.
“The clubhouse had two feet of water on the first floor, with the basement completely submerged,” Cooper said. “The maintenance and irrigation buildings were submerged, resulting in total losses of the buildings and all equipment within them. It was a mess!”
Fortunately, they did have flood insurance. Cooper said total damage exceeded $10 million.
“So a lot of the work is being paid for with insurance funds, as well as our own money,” Cooper said. “We do not have an opening date yet, but expect to reopen in spring of 2026.”
For the golfers out there, Cooper gave a detailed breakdown of all the work they’re doing:
On the golf course: Stripping all greens surfaces, adding in new greens mix and reseeding with bent grass. All greens are completed and currently growing in. The 11th green was completely destroyed, as well as some tee boxes. Those have been rebuilt and are growing in.
All of the fairways and tees have been stripped of silt, regraded and tilled. All of these areas are currently growing in with Bermuda grass.
All of the bunkers were stripped, regraded and rebuilt with new drainage and sand. Sod was used around every greens complex and all bunkers, with the work completed about a month ago.
Tropical Storm Helene left behind 12 to 18 inches of silt on the Broadmoor Golf Links course in the Fletcher area. Workers had it removed by April, and the company that operates the course is rebuilding. // Photo provided by DreamCatcher Hotels
The irrigation electrical system was destroyed, and has now been replaced. New irrigation pumps have been operational the last couple of months. Workers also had to clean out and replace drainage systems, along with lots of bank restabilization.
Driving range: “We were able to open the driving range in a temporary capacity while work was being undertaken on the course,” Cooper said. “We closed the range on Aug. 11, in order to fix damage from the flood. It is currently under construction and we hope to reopen it in the next three to four months. No timetable, yet, as it’s weather dependent this late in the season.”
Clubhouse, maintenance buildings: The company gutted, cleaned and rebuilt the clubhouse. “We are close to hopefully reopening the clubhouse and restaurant in the next two months,” Cooper said. “We are working on finalizing some construction items for a full Certificate of Occupancy, as well as waiting on furniture, fixtures and equipment.”
The maintenance and irrigation buildings are completed and in use, Cooper added.
Question: What is going on with the FernLeaf Community Charter School in Fletcher? I’ve seen they’re putting back in mobile classrooms in the area that flooded, and it looks like it’s close to reopening. I thought they moved all the students to their location further south that sits on top of a hill?
My answer: I suspect all of the new mobile classrooms are actually barges. Pretty ingenious, really.
Real answer: Back in April I wrote about FernLleaf, the flooding at its location off Howard Gap Road in Fletcher, and the school’s plans to rebuild. Helene’s floodwaters filled the buildings with up to six feet of water and swept some of them off their foundations, Nicole Rule, communications, marketing and events coordinator for the school, said then.
On Monday she had some happy news about FernLeaf’s “second act.”
FernLeaf Community Charter School, which sustained major damage at its “Creek Campus” elementary school location in Fletcher, has reopened with new modular buildings. // Photo by Nicole Rule of FernLeaf Charter School.
“On Aug. 13, FernLeaf Community Charter School in Fletcher reopened its Creek Campus — 321 days after Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic flooding swept our main buildings off their foundations and left the campus under several feet of water,” Rule said via email. “In that time, over 430 elementary students and their teachers relocated to our Wilderness Campus (previously home to middle and high schoolers), where they continued learning without missing a beat.”
Rule said, “Community partners, including general contractor Beverly Grant and even the Carolina Panthers Charities (with a $20,000 grant), rallied to help us rebuild.
“While one building is still under construction due to this summer’s unrelenting rain, the reopening marks a milestone for our students, families, and the broader Fletcher/Asheville community,” Rule said. That building should be ready by the end of September.
Michael Luplow, FernLeaf’s executive director, said the school’s “journey has been a powerful demonstration of what we can achieve when we come together.”
“We are immensely grateful for the unwavering support of our students, families, staff, and the broader community,” Luplow said in the press release. “The re-opening of the Creek Campus is not just about a new set of buildings; it is a celebration of our collective spirit and our enduring mission to provide an innovative, inspiring education to our students.”
By the way, FernLeaf did rebuild on the same footprint, which is close to Cane Creek. But this is all approved.
“Since Fern Leaf had previously been constructed in a manner that met our current elevation requirements, they are permitted to go back in at the same elevation,” Town of Fletcher Planning Director Eric Rufa told me in April. “I have encouraged them to go higher, but current circumstances with regard to grade and ADA requirements may hinder that.”
The school did have flood insurance.
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Asheville Watchdog is a nonprofit news team producing stories that matter to Asheville and Buncombe County. Got a question? Send it to John Boyle at jboyle@avlwatchdog.org or 828-337-0941. His Answer Man columns appear each Tuesday and Friday. 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/
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The content presents factual information about local community issues, such as flood damage and rebuilding efforts at a golf course and a charter school, without expressing partisan opinions or advocating for a particular political ideology. The tone is neutral and focused on reporting details relevant to the community, reflecting a balanced and nonpartisan approach.
SUMMARY: Brooke Johnson, 29, became the first woman to skateboard across the U.S., completing a nearly four-month, 3,000-mile journey from Santa Monica, California, to Virginia Beach. Motivated by a promise to her late stepfather, Roger, who suffered a spinal cord injury and encouraged her to skate across the country, Brooke fulfilled her goal while raising over $54,000 for spinal cord research. Despite emotional and physical challenges, she felt Roger’s support throughout. At the finish line, she wore a necklace containing his ashes, symbolizing their shared journey. Brooke plans to rest before deciding her next adventure. Donations continue via “Brooke Does Everything.”
Brooke Johnson traveled by skateboard from California to Virginia Beach over 118 days to raise over $50000 for spinal cord injury …
www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-08-18 08:01:00
Hurricane Erin, which rapidly intensified from Category 1 to Category 5 over the weekend with winds near 160 mph, weakened slightly to Category 4 on Monday while remaining offshore. At 8 a.m., it was about 115 miles north-northeast of Grand Turk and 890 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, moving northwest at 13 mph. Dare County declared an emergency, ordering evacuations for Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks, where NC 12 is at risk of flooding and damage. While Erin is expected to miss U.S. landfall, North Carolina’s coast remains within its wind field amid ongoing recovery from Hurricane Helene.
(The Center Square) – Erin, once a Category 5 hurricane over the weekend that more than doubled wind speed to nearly 160 mph, on Monday morning remained on a path to miss landfall of the United States though not without forcing evacuations in North Carolina.
At 8 a.m., the Category 4 hurricane was just east of the southeastern Bahamas, the National Weather Center said, about 115 miles north-northeast of the Grand Turk Islands, and about 890 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras. Erin was moving northwest at 13 mph, forecast to be going north by Wednesday morning while parallel to the Florida panhandle.
Erin had 75 mph maximum winds Friday at 11 a.m., a Category 1, and 24 hours later was near 160 mph and Category 5. It has since gone to a Category 3 before gaining more intensity.
On the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, Category 1 is 74-95 mph, Category 2 is 96-110, Category 3 is major and 111-129 mph, Category 4 is 130-156 mph, and Category 5 is greater than 157 mph. While the most-often characterization of Atlantic basin cyclones, the scale is without context on storm surge – a key factor in damage at landfall.
Dare County on Sunday declared an emergency with evacuations ordered for Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks. N.C. 12, the famed 148-mile roadway linking peninsulas and islands of the Outer Banks, is likely to go under water and parts could wash away – as often happens with hurricanes.
NC12 begins at U.S. 70 at the community of Sea Level and runs to a point just north of Corolla and south of the Currituck Banks North Carolina National Estuarine Research Reserve. Two ferries, Hatteras Island to Ocracoke Island and Cedar Island to Ocracoke Island, are part of the route.
Nearly all of North Carolina’s 301-mile coastline is within the outer wind field projection from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center. The greatest speed, however, is 20 mph.
Erin’s rapid intensity is among the greatest on record, and particularly so for prior to Sept. 1. Hurricane force winds (74 mph) extend 60 miles from its center.
By midnight Thursday into Friday, the storm is expected to be past a point parallel to the Virginia-North Carolina border and gaining speed away from the coast.
The storm’s miss of the state is particularly welcome in light of Hurricane Helene. Recovery from that storm is in its 47th week. Helene killed 107 in the state, 236 across seven states in the South, and caused an estimated $60 billion in damage to North Carolina.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The content provided is a straightforward news report on Hurricane Erin, focusing on meteorological facts, evacuation orders, and recent hurricane impacts in North Carolina. It presents detailed information about the storm’s strength, projected path, and historical context without expressing any opinion or advocating for a particular political viewpoint. The language is neutral and factual, offering updates from official sources and avoiding ideological framing. Thus, it reports on the situation without contributing any discernible political bias or ideological stance.
