Judge Jefferson Griffin (R), who had attempted to have more than 60,000 votes thrown out in his race for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat, has conceded to incumbent Justice Allison Riggs (D). His action ends a dispute that extended six months after the 2024 election and played out in both state and federal courts.
Griffin’s concession came just two days after a federal district court judge ordered the election be certified. “This case concerns whether the federal Constitution permits a state to alter the rules of an election after the fact,” Judge Richard E. Myers II wrote in Monday’s decision. The answer, he said, is “no.”
Griffin, a judge on the state court of appeals, made no claims of voter fraud. Nor did he claim that Rigg’s narrow 734-vote lead — confirmed by two recounts, was inaccurate. Instead, his challenge before the federal court focused on established election rules applying to citizens who cast their ballots from overseas. Griffin claimed that rules relating to voter IDs and certain voters’ eligibility violated the North Carolina Constitution and state statutes.
