An Outrage in NC

Voters rally in NC where another Republican loser is refusing to concede

As calls for peaceful protest on “Not My President’s Day” draw people to state capitols and Washington DC, 18 locations in NC will hold rallies and protests during the Presidents Day weekend. A losing candidate for statewide office in 2024 is still trying to overturn the election. Grassroots volunteers say no.

Isn’t Election 2024 behind us now, receding in the rear view mirror? Unfortunately, not in North Carolina. Sitting NC Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs won by 734 votes. After multiple recounts and careful election audits, she is still the clear winner. But her opponent, Jefferson Griffin, has refused to concede, instead contesting 65,000 votes.

This election is critical to future wins in North Carolina. In 2022, Republicans took the majority in the NC Supreme Court and went after Democratic seats across the state, costing Democrats three seats in the House and undermining the NC Democrats’ efforts to pass bills in the state legislature to benefit working people. Democrats around the country need to take note. Republican candidates have become bolder in their claims over the past five years, making winning an election a war of attrition as well as a contest of ideas and integrity. If Griffin succeeds in his effort to overthrow the results of this fair election, he will set a dangerous precedent.

Griffin and his allies have compiled their list of more than 65,000 voters, from across the state, whose votes Griffin claims should be disqualified. The list includes members of the military and other overseas voters, registered Republican, Independent, and unaffiliated voters. Young and Black voters’ ballots are being challenged at higher rates than others statewide. In terms of disenfranchising voters, this move cuts across party lines.

Even a Republican judge agreed that throwing these votes out would set a dangerous precedent.

When the NC Supreme court allowed Griffin's voter challenge to proceed through the courts, one of the Republican justices, Richard Dietz, dissented. He wrote: "Permitting post-election litigation that seeks to rewrite our state’s election rules — and, as a result, remove the right to vote in an election from people who already lawfully voted under the existing rules — invites incredible mischief," Dietz wrote. "It will lead to doubts about the finality of vote counts following an election, encourage novel legal challenges that greatly delay certification of the results, and fuel an already troubling decline in public faith in our elections."

Terri B. of Granville County, is among the voters on Griffin's list who finds the situation outrageous. “There’s no evidence,” she says. “Throwing out my ballot would mean what I say doesn’t matter.”

Pat L. adds, “Griffin has lost both with the state Board of Elections and now wants to bring his complaint to the NC Supreme Court. The Chief Justice is his friend and refuses to recuse himself. This is a totally brazen attempt to literally steal the valid election by creating issues after the fact.”

On Presidents Day weekend, North Carolinians around the state will call attention to this injustice. Organizers have been busy securing venues and DJs. They have promoted events in cities and towns from Asheville and Boone in the west to Jacksonville, Fayetteville, and New Bern in the east, and from Raleigh to Charlotte, to the Triad area, including Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and High Point in the center of the state. Common Cause organizer Tyler Daye has had a hand in planning the rally in Greensboro, NC, lining up co-sponsors and speakers, including voters whose ballots are in danger of being disqualified.

Other grassroots groups involved include the local Indivisible chapter, NAACP, Triad Resists, the League of Women Voters, and several others.

Greensboro will lean into its history of activism. In 1960, four Black students took seats at a segregated lunch counter in a Woolworth’s in Greensboro, launching a sit-in movement that spread across the South. The sit-in movement was one of the catalysts that led to the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Speakers this coming weekend will draw on this event. They will also offer a tribute in honor of the memory of Dr. Nelson Johnson, a statewide leader known for his civil rights work. Johnson’s Beloved Community organization will take part in the event.

Lyn M., a longtime advocate for reproductive rights, notes, “By organizing these rallies all over NC, we hope to raise awareness of Jefferson Griffin’s outrageous perversion of the voting system.”

Tyler adds that the rally will be a success if people have a better understanding of what’s happening and its significance. “There is no precedent for this effort, where a candidate is demanding that the courts do the unthinkable: throw out the votes of tens of thousands of legitimate voters, voters who followed the election rules as they were set. It is an affront to democracy and an affront to the will of the people in the state.”

Activists are getting together and getting louder. More than 400 people participated in the Greensboro rally on Saturday Feb. 15, sending the message that our votes count and that Griffin’s case has no merit. Rallies are scheduled for Monday Feb. 17 as well. Lyn says, “People are beyond outraged.”

Pat L., Tyler D., Lyn M., and Martha M contributed to this article.