Republican Jefferson Griffin is challenging the State Board of Elections' plan to require only overseas voters from Guilford County to provide photo ID in order for their ballots to count in November鈥檚 race for a seat on the state Supreme Court.
If the ID requirement is limited to Guilford, it could be difficult for Griffin to overcome Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs鈥� 734-vote lead.
The elections board has a 3-2 Democratic majority.
Last week, the board said it will require 1,409 overseas and military voters in Guilford County to provide a photo ID within 30 days for their ballots to be counted. Griffin has also challenged overseas voters in five other Democratic-leaning counties, but the board said those challenges weren鈥檛 filed by the legal deadline.
In a filing to the state Court of Appeals on Friday, Griffin wrote that the Board of Elections is planning to 鈥渄isobey鈥� the court鈥檚 previous mandate. He noted that a three-judge panel on the state Court of Appeals had originally written that 鈥渃ounty boards鈥� should move forward with a 15-day cure process for overseas voters.
The state Supreme Court later extended that window to 30 days.
If overseas voters in all six counties are required to show an ID, Griffin could make up enough votes to win.
The other counties are Durham, Forsyth, Buncombe, Cumberland and New Hanover. All voted for Kamala Harris in November.
In a 4-2 decision, the state鈥檚 highest court said the largest group of challenged ballots 鈥� more than 60,000 鈥� should be counted. Griffin had challenged those voters, saying their registrations lacked required information, such as the last four digits of the voter鈥檚 Social Security number.
The court also said the elections board should discard roughly 270 so-called 鈥渘ever resident鈥� voters. These individuals claim North Carolina residency but have never lived in the state. They are likely U.S. citizens whose parents are from North Carolina but who live overseas.
Raleigh journalist found more than a dozen people on the "never resident" list had indeed lived in North Carolina.
Riggs is appealing the photo ID requirement in federal court.
The election was nearly six months ago, and is the last unresolved race in the nation.
