Voting and Civil Rights Groups Urge Court to Protect NC Voters
Invalidating 60,000 votes infringes on North Carolinians’ fundamental right to vote.
Raleigh, N.C. — A broad coalition of nonpartisan civic engagement groups and more than two dozen North Carolina voters filed an amicus brief Monday in a legal case where a trailing N.C. Supreme Court candidate wants to invalidate tens of thousands of votes.
Represented by attorneys at Southern Coalition for Social Justice and Forward Justice, the voter and civil rights groups filed the amicus brief in advance of a hearing Friday in Wake County Superior Court in Raleigh. The groups and voters are urging the court to uphold the fundamental rights of North Carolina’s voters and reject N.C. Supreme Court candidate Judge Jefferson Griffin’s extraordinary request to disenfranchise more than 60,000 voters.
“These are voters who have not only done nothing wrong, but who in fact followed all the rules that were asked of them," the amicus brief states. "Stunningly, Judge Griffin fails to allege any evidence that even a single one of these voters is actually ineligible to vote in North Carolina—only that they should have anticipated his unprecedented challenges and followed an alternative hypothetical set of rules, never provided to them by the state, when casting their ballot."
Read the motion for leave here.
The following nonpartisan voting and civil rights organizations joining the brief are:
- N.C. State Conference of the NAACP
- N.C. Black Alliance
- Common Cause Education Fund
- Democracy North Carolina
- El Pueblo
- N.C. Asian Americans Together
- N.C. Poor People’s Campaign
The brief details the experiences of more than two dozen North Carolinians being challenged by Griffin who followed all election rules when they voted early, by mail, or while overseas. In addition, it includes a verified list of more than 1,000 registered voters who are speaking out against being challenged wrongfully in this election by Griffin.
Background: Griffin, the Republican candidate for last year’s N.C. Supreme Court race, has challenged the validity of more than 60,000 votes cast by North Carolinians in an attempt to win his race. Justice Allison Riggs, the Democrat candidate and incumbent, had her 734-vote lead from November’s election confirmed in two recounts but the election has yet to be certified due to Griffin’s legal challenges in both state and federal courts.
What’s next: A hearing on Griffin’s protests will be held at 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 7 at the Wake County Courthouse (Courtroom 10A) in downtown Raleigh.