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The North Carolina Supreme Court issued an order Friday in the election protest brought by state supreme court candidate Jefferson Griffin.
In a prior decision by the North Carolina Court of Appeals, the court would have required challenged voters who had allegedly “incomplete” registrations to take certain actions to have their votes remain in the count in the supreme court contest in the 2024 general election.
Friday’s order from the Supreme Court changes that. Voters allegedly having “incomplete” registrations will no longer have their votes impacted.
However, for two other groups of challenged voters, the Supreme Court decision would affect their votes, according to the North Carolina Board of Elections.
For certain military and overseas-citizen voters who used absentee ballots, the Supreme Court’s decision would now require them to provide a copy of their photo identification, or complete an affidavit known as a Photo ID Exception Form, to ensure their votes remain in the count for this contest, the board said. The Supreme Court’s order Friday increased the amount of time that an affected voter would have to provide their photo ID documentation, to 30 days, once they are notified by their county board of elections.
Additionally, for certain voters who, while otherwise eligible, have never resided in the United States but have a connection to North Carolina through their parents, the Supreme Court’s order Friday would require those voters’ votes to be removed from the Supreme Court contest, the board said.
The Stanly County Board of Elections reports that there are no Stanly County voters involved in either of those groups.
The State Board understands there may be further proceedings in federal court before this matter is fully resolved. State Board of Elections staff are continuing to review the effect of these decisions and, at the appropriate time, will provide instructions for county boards of elections and affected voters on how to comply with the decisions. This protest does not affect these voters’ selections in any other contest on the ballot.