'At-risk voters': Military servicemembers among 260 votes Republican panel threw out in NC election

14 April

Democratic incumbent Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs and her Republican challenger, Judge Jefferson Griffin. (Courtesy photos)

North Carolina showed how much of a swing state it has become when, in November, the winners of statewide races ranged from Democratic now-Gov. Josh Stein to Republican now-President Donald Trump (who defeated Democratic nominee Kamala Harris by roughly 3.5 percent in the Tarheel State). Another nail-biter was the North Carolina Supreme Court election, which found Democratic Justice Allison Riggs narrowly defeating Republic Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin by 734 votes.

Griffin, however, never conceded defeat and continues to fight the election results in court. And he is hoping that he can overturn them if he succeeds in getting more than 60,000 votes for Riggs thrown out.

North Carolina-based journalist Bryan Anderson examines the state of Griffin's efforts in an April 14 column posted on his SubStack page, Anderson Alerts.

Anderson reports, "At least 16 North Carolina voters from 10 different counties are poised to have their ballots immediately removed from the Supreme Court tally without any opportunity to address concerns a Republican candidate has with their ballots, a preliminary Anderson Alerts review of the challenged voters shows. To overturn an apparent 734-vote defeat to Democratic Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs, Republican Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin contested the ballots of 260 North Carolinians, labeling them as 'never residents.'"

On Friday, April 4, Anderson notes, a three-judge panel for the North Carolina Court of Appeals — Judges Toby Hampson, John Tyson and Fred Gore — ruled "that the State Board of Elections must remove all 260 voters from the count." And that decision was upheld by the North Carolina Supreme Court a week later on April 11.

"In response," Anderson reports, "Riggs appealed to federal court, where a (Donald) Trump-appointed judge ruled, over the weekend, that Judges Fred Gore and John Tyson may proceed with directing state elections officials to remove the so-called 'never residents' from the vote count…. But a review of public records, news clips, social media posts, and interviews show many of those people have indeed lived in the state, with some having spent their entire childhood in North Carolina, continuing to pay property taxes or working in the state."

Anderson adds, "The at-risk voters include military servicemembers based out of Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune, college professors, young adults working or studying abroad, a former D1 swimmer and even an aspiring actress."

Read Bryan Anderson's full SubStack column at this link.

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