RALEIGH — As North Carolina Supreme Court Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin questions tens of thousands of votes in his loss to Democrat Allison Riggs, one voter whose ballot is being questioned confirmed her information was properly provided. This comes as the North Carolina Supreme Court blocked the certification of Riggs’ victory. On Monday, a federal judge sent the case back to state courts. The State Board of Elections appealed to the Court of Appeals.
Griffin’s lawsuit targets three sets of voters: voters whose registrations didn’t include their driver’s license or last four digits of their social security number, “never residents,” people born overseas to North Carolina residents but never have lived in North Carolina and overseas voters who did not provide a photo ID with their ballot.
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Orange County voter Spring Dawson-McClure says she checks none of those boxes but discovered her vote was in question after receiving a postcard from the North Carolina GOP notifying her of the situation.
“At first I thought it was just kind of like silly and annoying,” she said.
Dawson-McClure spoke to her local board of elections and got a copy of her 2012 voter registration which shows her Social Security Number was provided. She also showed her ID before casting a ballot. The possible discrepancy stems from her last name. The board of elections told her that her SSN matched with only her maiden name “Dawson” and not her married name “Dawson-McClure.” That’s how she ended up in the database.
“It makes me furious,” she said. “I want to be able to tell my children that every vote matters. I vote consistently. I take them with me. We’re part of get out the vote efforts, and this is the kind of thing that I would not have thought were possible.”
Protect Democracy Attorney Anne Tindall says Griffin’s lawsuit is based on data obtained through a records request. She says throwing out votes because of incomplete or improperly inputted data is troubling.
“It would be absolutely wild,” she said. “We’re looking at disenfranchisement on a massive level.”
Griffin and the NCGOP say the lawsuit is about counting every legal vote and election integrity.
The state Supreme Court will hear arguments over the next two weeks. Riggs is a member of the court and is recusing herself.