Voting, Civil Rights Groups Urge Appeals Court to Protect Voters

Invalidating 60,000 votes infringes on North Carolinians’ fundamental right to vote.   

RALEIGH, N.C. (Feb. 28, 2025) — Discounting the choices of more than 60,000 voters is an unwarranted and dangerous threat to people’s fundamental right to vote, a broad coalition of nonpartisan civic engagement groups and more than two dozen North Carolina voters wrote in an amicus brief filed Thursday.  

The amicus brief was filed Thursday in the N.C. Court of Appeals in a legal case where trailing candidate Jefferson Griffin in a seat on N.C. Supreme Court, the highest court in the state, is looking to use legal maneuvers to invalidate more than 60,000 votes cast by eligible voters in his race against Allison Riggs. Griffin currently serves on the N.C. Court of Appeals and Riggs is an associate justice at the N.C. Supreme Court.  

Read the amicus brief here.  

Represented by attorneys at Southern Coalition for Social Justice and Forward Justice, the voter and civil rights groups voters are urging the court to uphold the fundamental rights of North Carolina’s voters and reject this reckless and unprecedented a request to disenfranchise more than 60,000 voters without evidence showing any of the voters were ineligible to cast their ballot.  

“Judge Griffin’s Protests seek retroactive disenfranchisement of these voters, and more than 60,000 like them, based on legal theories that have been rejected by both federal and state courts,” 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 challenges and followed an alternative, hypothetical set of rules when casting their ballot.”  

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   

In addition, a motion for leave attached to 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, seeks to discount 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: The N.C. Court of Appeals is expected to set a hearing in the matter, possibly in March, in downtown Raleigh.   

Note to reporters: Several of the impacted voters included in the amicus brief and whose experiences are detailed here are available to speak to the media. Please email sarah@scsj.org or bcheatham@forwardjustice.org to arrange interviews.  
   

XXX  

Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing, and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.  

Forward Justice is a nonpartisan law, policy and strategy center dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic justice in the U.S. South. Our work catalyzes success for social movements and expands opportunities for people affected by injustice. www.ForwardJustice.org