RALEIGH, N.C (April 4, 2025) — The North Carolina Court of Appeals issued a ruling today — four months post-election — commanding the State and County Boards of Elections to contact more than 60,000 innocent voters and give them less than 15 business days to “cure” their lawfully-cast ballots, despite no evidence they were invalid in the first place.
The 2-1 decision, which is likely to be appealed, would also toss out a large number of votes in the months-long dispute over the results in an N.C. Supreme Court race, where candidate Jefferson Griffin is challenging more than 65,000 voters in a bid to unseat incumbent Allison Riggs.
Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) and co-counsel Forward Justice filed an amicus brief in the case on behalf of several North Carolina-based non-partisan democracy groups and over 30 eligible voters at risk of having their ballots discarded. The decision brazenly ignored evidence from these voters and the State and County Boards of Elections that their registrations were, in fact, complete and that each person followed the law as it was written at the time of exercising their right to cast a ballot.
Read the full Court of Appeals decision here.
The decision was labelled as per curiam, which means the author is not disclosed — a process normally used for unanimous opinions. However, Judge Toby Hampson dissented, emphasizing that Griffin had yet to show a single ineligible voter in the record before the court.
“Every single voter challenged by Petitioner in this appeal, both here and abroad, cast their absentee, early, or overseas ballot by following every instruction they were given to do so,” Hampson wrote. “Their ballots were accepted. Their ballots were counted. The results were canvassed. None of these challenged voters was given any reason to believe their vote would not be counted on election day or included in the final tallies.”
Hampson also pointed out that changing the rules in place at the time of the election after the fact to discard people’s votes and alter the outcome “is directly counter to law, equity, and the Constitution” — a sentiment shared in the amicus brief filed by SCSJ and Forward Justice.
“This is a dramatic remedy that displays a complete lack of understanding of election administration and a disregard for every-day voters, none of whom have yet been as ineligible,” said Jeff Loperfido, Chief Counsel for Voting Rights at SCSJ. “It’s a sad day for democracy and the state of North Carolina when a court endorses a flimsy legal argument to throw out valid ballots and burden other eligible voters to re-establish their voter qualifications, all at the behest of a losing candidate trying to pick and choose which votes get counted.”
“If the Court’s ruling today stands it will improperly disenfranchise many thousands of voters who are not able to cure their ballot within the short time frame allowed by this Court’s order,” said Kat Roblez, Senior Voting Rights Counsel and Litigation Manager at Forward Justice. “These are eligible voters who complied with every single requirement set out in front of them by the state in order to register to vote in North Carolina and to cast a ballot in the 2024 election. This is an attack on the fundamental right to vote and sets a dangerous precedent for future electoral challenges.”
The following nonpartisan voting and civil rights organizations are part of the original amicus brief filed in the case: N.C. State Conference of the NAACP; N.C. Black Alliance; Common Cause Education Fund; Democracy North Carolina; El Pueblo; N.C. Asian Americans Together; and N.C. Poor People’s Campaign.
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Southern Coalition for Social Justice, founded in 2007, partners with communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities in the South to defend and advance their political, social, and economic rights through the combination of legal advocacy, research, organizing, and communications. Learn more at southerncoalition.org and follow our work on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Forward Justice is a nonpartisan law, policy and strategy center dedicated to advancing racial, social, and economic justice in the U.S. South. Our work catalyzes success for social movements and expands opportunities for people affected by injustice. Learn more at www.ForwardJustice.org.