CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A recount has been ordered in the race for the North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice seat.
Two weeks after Election Day, Republican Jefferson Griffin requested a recount. In its current state, Griffin trails Democrat Allison Riggs by only 625 votes. In order for a recount to be demanded in a statewide contest, the vote difference has to be 10,000 votes or fewer between the top candidates.
“Recounts are a regular part of the elections process when contests are close, and they help ensure that the results are accurate and that the public can have confidence that the candidate who received the most votes wins the election,” North Carolina State Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said. “Recounts are conducted by bipartisan teams and are open to the public whenever and wherever they occur.”
A majority of the 100 counties participating in the recount will start the process on Wednesday, and all the recounts must be done by Nov. 27. As for how the recount works, bipartisan teams will scan every ballot cast during the election into a tabulator, counting only this specific race. Recounts are open to the public, so any American, including candidates and their representatives, can watch the process as it goes on.
After that rescanning happens, the candidate with the lower number of votes is allowed to request a hand recount in a random sample of Election Day precincts. If that is demanded, it has to be done the week of Dec. 2.
"If results of the hand-to-eye recount differ from the previous results within those precincts to the extent that extrapolating the amount of the change to the entire jurisdiction (based on the proportion of ballots recounted to the total votes cast for that office) would result in the reversing of the results, then the State Board of Elections would order a hand recount of all ballots statewide," the North Carolina Board of Elections stated.
The results of that recount will be the official results of the race.
Riggs and Griffin presented starkly different judicial philosophies and policy priorities.
Allison Riggs
Riggs is the Democratic incumbent, appointed in 2023 to fill a vacancy. Her background includes 14 years at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, where she was a champion for voting rights, often challenging voter ID laws and gerrymandering. Riggs takes a progressive stance on issues like education funding, advocating for increased school resources, as shown in her dissent in the Leandro case. She also emphasizes the importance of campaign finance reform and unions, and her judicial philosophy aligns closely with that of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Riggs is endorsed by organizations like the Sierra Club and Pro-Choice NC, reflecting her progressive support base.
Jefferson Griffin
A Republican and former Wake County District Court Judge, Griffin was elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals in 2020. His judicial philosophy is conservative, identifying as an originalist and textualist, similar to U.S. Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch. Griffin has taken positions against abortion, as seen in his concurrence on a ruling that life begins at conception. He has also sided with restricting felon voting rights and limiting state education funding in the Leandro case. His campaign is backed by law enforcement and GOP-aligned groups.
This race highlights key ideological differences, with Riggs focusing on civil rights and social justice, while Griffin emphasizes conservative judicial restraint and traditional values.