RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) — A Republican judge in an undecided North Carolina Supreme Court race is continuing to pursue legal avenues to secure a win as the state works to finish its second recount of the race.
Jefferson Griffin, a North Carolina Court of Appeals judge, filed a petition for writ of mandamus Friday, asking the Wake County court to step in and force the state board of elections to make a rapid decision on his election protests. He filed the same request shortly thereafter with the North Carolina Court of Appeals.
Griffin, who is running against Democrat Justice Allison Riggs, had a lead over Riggs beginning on election night. But he’d lost that lead by Nov. 15, as unofficial county ballot results showed Riggs securing a razor-thin lead.
On Nov. 18, before the final count was complete, Griffin sued the state board of elections, claiming that it had taken too long to turn over records requests, thereby putting him unreasonably close to a recount deadline the following day.
In emails provided to Courthouse News, an attorney for the state board of elections said that Griffin’s attorneys demanded records over the weekend, then filed the lawsuit on Monday after the agency told them it would provide the records to his campaign that day.
Griffin requested a recount the following day, and filed election protests challenging the validity of more than 60,000 ballots statewide. More than 5.5 million voters cast ballots in this race.
Following the conclusion of the first recount, in which Riggs maintained her lead of exactly 734 votes, Griffin requested a hand-to-eye recount. Each of the 100 county boards of elections is currently conducting a hand-to-eye recount of all ballots in 3% of their voting precincts, which were randomly selected by the state board. The count is expected to be complete by next week.
In his petition, Griffin asks the court to require the state elections board to make a decision on his protests by Dec. 10, a day before its scheduled hearing on the issue.
“A disputed election to our state’s highest court is itself an exceptional circumstance of immense public interest,” he wrote. “A speedy determination of that contest is not just important to the candidates, but is critical to the public’s trust in the electoral process itself.”
“Everyone has a strong interest in the fair and speedy determination of election results,” Griffin added. “This Court need not let the public trust in the electoral process crumble further.”
Griffin argued the board is unreasonably delaying a decision and that election certification is necessary for the losing party to pursue judicial review. The state board won’t be able to certify the race until the recount is completed.
With several races still uncertified and challenges ongoing, state Republicans have commented on the time-consuming process of recounts and election certification. Undisputed races were unanimously certified on Nov. 26.
“We’re seeing played out, at this point, another episode of ‘count until somebody you want to win, wins,’” Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger told reporters in late November.
Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director of the state board of elections, said that Berger’s comments are not based on facts and warned him against making comments that could threaten the safety of election workers. Berger has said he feels his comments reflect what the general public sees and is concerned about.
Griffin has filed more than 60,000 protests across the state. The state elections board has jurisdiction over three categories of those protests.
Among Griffin’s challenged voters are Riggs’ parents, who registered to vote under an old form that didn’t require them to provide their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their social security number. Republicans have challenged the eligibility of 225,000 voters over this issue, asking prior to the election that they be removed from the voter rolls or be asked to provide additional identification.
Griffin’s protests target these registrants, along with absentee ballots cast by voters who live overseas and were not required to provide photo ID by the state board despite a recently-implemented state identification requirement.
Also included are so-called “never residents” — that is, adult children of American citizens who have never lived in the United States, but who are nonetheless U.S. citizens and can therefore vote. Counting their ballots is unlawful, Griffin says, because the state constitution only allows residents to vote on state offices.
Griffin has also asked that one Democrat elections board member, Siobhan Millen, recuse herself from involvement with his election protests. She should be removed, he said in his request, because her husband is a partner at the firm representing Riggs in the election protest process.
The state’s board of elections has three Democrats and two Republicans. Should Millen recuse herself, the results of its decision are more likely to be in his favor.
The state board of elections anticipates completing the second recount in the Supreme Court race by next week. A representative for Riggs’ campaign said they plan to submit a brief on the issue to the state board of elections by the end of the day.
Representatives for the state board of elections and Griffin’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.