RALEIGH, N.C. (CN) - The disputed North Carolina Supreme Court associate justice seat was filled at last Tuesday morning, after over six months of litigation by candidate Judge Jefferson Griffin. 

In a celebratory affair, Associate Justice Allison Riggs was sworn in Tuesday morning in a packed building filled with supporters in the North Carolina State Capitol. The state Board of Elections, which had certified the vote totals in December but had been barred from finalizing the election results, confirmed it issued Riggs' election certificate Tuesday morning. A formal investiture ceremony will follow in a month. 

The election signifies a win for Democrats, who have been attempting to retain seats in the hopes of eventually regaining a majority on the state's highest court. Riggs' seat, and the seat of Associate Justice Anita Earls, which is up for grabs in 2026, are pivotal as Republicans currently hold a 5-2 majority. 

"We won this election more than six months ago. It was fewer than 7 days ago that this race finally ended. That's more than 180 days after election day. Nearly $2 million spent, nearly 68,000 voters, lawful votes, put at risk. Taxpayer time and resources wasted, unmeasurable damage done to democracy," Riggs said after taking the oath. 

"Disappointed politicians should not use courts to try and get a different election outcome. We have before, and may continue to see efforts to undermine our rights, and our democracy. And just as you used your voices in this fight, I encourage North Carolinians to remember: you decide elections, not candidates, not political parties. And those that you elect are accountable to you," she said.       

Isaac Jenkins, an unaffiliated voter who had his vote challenged, was among her supporters in the audience. Jenkins said he had been registered in North Carolina for nine years, and before that spent 30 years as an election official in New Jersey. 

Riggs speaks for the people, Jenkin said, which is why he supported her. He discovered his ballot was being disputed when he was contacted by the NAACP, and after confirming with his local elections board that his information was current in the state database, now carries his voter ID card with him in his wallet. 

"I'm a registered voter. Why that would be in question is beyond me," Jenkins said. "I call that part of the steal. They were trying to steal the election. But they stole the wrong person because I've been a community activist for 61 years."  

Griffin finally conceded his race on May 7, after claiming the state elections board wrongly allowed voters whose voting status he was disputing to cast ballots in his race. Over 60,000 local ballots cast by residents who are missing information in the state's voter roll database were challenged, despite residents being required to show proof of ID at the polls. He also challenged ballots cast by military and overseas citizens, who were not required by the elections board to provide photo ID, and ballots cast by "never residents" - U.S. citizens who have never lived in America, whom he claimed should never have been allowed to vote in statewide elections. 

Griffin's loss to Riggs, who was appointed to the seat by then-Governor Roy Cooper in 2023, came after two recounts in the race, which saw Griffin trailing by 734 votes. 

In January, the North Carolina Supreme Court barred the state elections board from certifying his race until all appeals had been exhausted. In early May, a federal judge dismissed all of Griffin's claims after finding the state can't alter voter eligibility after an election and directing North Carolina to certify the election without instituting a cure process or removing any ballots from the count.

In his concession, Griffin said he did not plan to appeal the federal court's decision, ending the case's exhaustive legal appeal process. 

Griffin started his legal challenges with a preliminary lawsuit against the state election board over the speed in which it was turning over election records - an action he later withdrew. After his hundreds of election protests failed to find success before the North Carolina Board of Elections, Griffin filed suit in Raleigh court, then before the Court of Appeals, where he works, then directly before the state Supreme Court, after he failed to gain traction in the lower courts. His cases were then removed to federal court, where a federal judge found the state Supreme Court was better suited to handle state statutory and constitutional questions. 

That decision was immediately appealed to the Fourth Circuit, with the Supreme Court halting the certification of his election in the interim, then directing Griffin to proceed through the normal judicial appeals process and begin his arguments before Raleigh court. A Fourth Circuit panel abstained from making any decisions over North Carolina election law, upholding the remand order and retaining jurisdiction over any federal issues remaining after state court proceedings are resolved. 

In Raleigh court, a judge found the state elections board acted properly in dismissing Griffin's election challenges, which was promptly appealed to the Court of Appeals. There, a panel of judges ruled that the results of the North Carolina Supreme Court associate justice race must be recalculated, over 60,000 disputed voters must cure their voting registration, and never residents must be removed from the vote totals.

The state Supreme Court then halted a widespread curing process and ordered over 60,000 ballots upheld, with military voters required to undergo a curing process and never residents again facing a toss of their ballots. That decision went to U.S. District Judge Richard Myers II, who ended Griffin's election challenge by granting summary judgment in favor of the state Board of Elections and Riggs. Myers found that discarding the ballots of never residents "violates procedural due process and represents an unconstitutional burden on the right to vote." 

Source: Courthouse News Service