Election Day.
There is only one major race yet to be certified nearly 6 months after the ‘24 general election1: The North Carolina Supreme Court. After Democrat incumbent Allison Riggs won the election and two recounts, Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin is still seeking to challenge 60,000 votes – even after an appeals Judge noted that he “has yet to identify a single voter—among the tens of thousands Petitioner challenges in this appeal—who was, in fact, ineligible to vote”.2
This race has become a flashpoint of MAGAs election interference tactics - and also the frontline for the resistance against them. Over the past week, DGG, PV, and VGG have sought the contact information for all 5,509 of the voters who are currently at risk of disenfranchisement, and will be reaching out to them soon to cure their ballots – and we will need your help.
Post-election judicial actions seek “to balance the public’s interest in achieving accurate election results with the need to finalize those results in a short period of time.” (Bouvier v. Porter). Finalizing the results quickly was a key reason the Supreme Court ended Al Gore's recounts in just over a month, so it is some surprise that the current election is still contested nearly 6 months after election day.
The full timeline3 is defined by endless appeals and courtroom hot potato – the entire month of January was spent deliberating who actually had jurisdiction over the case. The key details are as follows:
Election Day.
Riggs wins by 625 votes.4 Two recounts follow this initial count.
Griffin requests that 60k votes targeting Democrat-leaning areas should not be counted – about 1% of the total votes cast in the election. He focuses on three key categories: Overseas voters who did not submit a photo ID, Overseas voters who have not “expressed a clear intent” to live in North Carolina in the future, and Voters with missing information in their voter registrations.2
Riggs wins the second recount by 748 votes.5
The Board of Elections dismisses Griffin’s challenges and prepares to certify the election for Riggs.
Griffin petitions higher courts, Federal and State courts spend over a month determining Jurisdiction – being appealed by both sides every step of the way.
Three days after jurisdiction is determined, a North Carolina judge rules in favor of Briggs. The ruling is appealed.6
After more jurisdiction battles, the case is finally heard by the North Carolina Appeals Court.7
A shocking 2–1 ruling along party lines orders that 60k voters have 15 days to cure their ballots – effectively throwing out their votes, especially for overseas voters. The dissenting Democrat Justice notes that not a single ineligible voter had been presented.2
The North Carolina Supreme Court blocks this decision.
The North Carolina Supreme Court rules that the ~5,509 overseas voters have 30 days to cure their ballots. The other 55k votes will be counted.
Erik Balsbaugh, the Democrat’s top vote-curer, assembles a strike team to reach out to these voters. DGG, PV, and VGG collect the contact information for all 5,509 disenfranchised voters.
Federal appeals courts temporarily block the State Supreme Court ruling.
The Federal Appeals court will rule if the Supreme Court ruling stands. If they do, we will be reaching out to these 5,000 voters to help them cure their ballots.
You may have noticed that this story is entwined with ours: The story of the rise of online political organizing and communities. This is not one of many voter cure operations – this is the main one. There are no reinforcements, and nobody to pickup the slack if we falter. Our aligned communities are going to determine the fate of the voter cure efforts.
If you have ever considered getting involved, the time is now:
This race has 0.01% margins. Every single voter we reach out to takes the time to vote from overseas – these are people who want their votes to count.
DGG was outperformed by both VGG and PV
To reiterate: This coming has a chance to be the most effective action we can take outside of the election cycle – not just letting us help put a Democratic judge into power, but also to stand against MAGA election attacks, and potentially to prove our value to the party.
Join the DGG political action server now: https://discord.gg/rrUM4cWQHs.