North Carolina Court Rules 65,000 Ballots May Be Disqualified

A North Carolina appeals court has ruled in a 2-1 decision that over 65,000 ballots in the closely contested Supreme Court race should be challenged, potentially overturning the results of the election where Democrat Allison Riggs leads Republican Jefferson Griffin by 734 votes. The court's ruling requires voters to provide additional information to correct their registrations within 15 days or risk having their votes discarded. This decision has sparked concerns among Democrats, who argue it could lead to widespread disenfranchisement. Judge Toby Hampson, the dissenting Democrat, criticized the ruling as an 'act of mass disenfranchisement.' Griffin contends that the ballots should not be counted because they lack required identification information that was mandated by a 2004 law, despite the fact that these voters followed the law as it stood at the time of voting. The case may now escalate to the state Supreme Court, where a Republican majority could further impact the outcome.