(The Center Square) – Jurisdiction for six complaints is divided three to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, and three to respective county boards.
The state board made the decision at an emergency session on Wednesday. The protests, all by Republicans, involved four different races.
The most notable is the state Supreme Court race between Republican Jefferson Griffin and Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs that had more than 5.5 million votes cast.
The six complaints include concerns about voting registration records, how overseas ballots were properly distributed and vetted, and an accusation of felons voting. Griffin’s legal team requested that the board take up jurisdiction over all six complaints involving more than 60,000 ballots, while Riggs’ legal team requested the board take up none.
With all precincts in on Election Night, Griffin led by 9,851 votes. Wednesday, he trailed by 722 – a 10,573 vote reversal.
“As North Carolinians, we cherish our democratic process,” Griffin said in the release. “Protecting election integrity is not just an option – it’s our duty. These protests are about one fundamental principle: ensuring every legal vote is counted.”
Unlike an election season of partisan division on the embattled board that has drawn eight lawsuits, some agreement was reached in this meeting.
“I think this is an entirely reasonable suggestion,” said Kevin Lewis, one of two Republicans on the board. “We’ve got one side that says, ‘leave it with the counties.’ We’ve got another side that says, ‘state board, take it all.’ We’ve divided it into half, three and three issues. I think that’s very appropriate.”
The deadline for counties to complete canvassing was by 5 p.m. on the 10th day after Election Day. At 5:01 p.m. Friday, the state board portal showed 19 counties without official election results.
The deadline to request a recount was noon on Tuesday. Griffin was the lone statewide; five involving the General Assembly are also filed.
The state certification is scheduled for Tuesday of next week, and the board already determined in its meeting that all contests besides those currently recounted would be certified.
In the state Senate, Republican Stacie McGinn requested a recount in the District 42 race and Republican Ashlee Bryan Adams did likewise for District 18. McGinn was defeated by Democrat Woodson Bradley by 204 votes of more than 124,000 cast; Adams was 134 votes behind Democrat Terence Everitt of more than 123,000 cast.
Both of those Republicans were also apart of the complaints put before the board, along with Republican Rep. Frank Sossamon of state House District 32. Sossamon’s race is also in a recount, after he lost to Democrat Bryan Cohn by 233 votes out of more than 43,000 cast.
Legal briefs must be filed to the board by protestors by 5 p.m. on Nov. 27. The responding candidates will then have until Dec. 6 at 5 p.m. to respond with legal briefs.
Next steps in the issues left to the county board of elections will be determined by each of the 100 boards.
