RALEIGH, N.C (April 11, 2025) — Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ) and Forward Justice has issued the following statement concerning the North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to exclude military and overseas voters who cast ballots in compliance with state law and hundreds of voters who are U.S. citizens and inherited their parents’ domicile in North Carolina.
“Today, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that thousands of military and overseas voters should be disqualified. Their transgression? No more than following the rules they were required to follow,” said Jeff Loperfido, Chief Counsel for Voting Rights at SCSJ, and Caitlin Swain, Co-Director Forward Justice. “In the same stroke, the Court rightfully rejected a challenge to over 60,000 voters on the basis of a purported paperwork error. But this should not be mistaken for moderation. Not a single one of these voters has been shown to be ineligible to cast a ballot in North Carolina under the rules in place at the time of the election. The Court’s order doubles down on the key error in the Court of Appeals’ decision: retroactively changing the rules of an election after all ballots were cast, in service of changing the results of that election at the behest of the losing candidate.”
The decision is the latest step in the months-long dispute over the results in an N.C. Supreme Court race, where losing candidate Jefferson Griffin is challenging more than 65,000 voters in a bid to unseat incumbent Justice Allison Riggs.
SCSJ and Forward Justice voting rights attorneys are available to be interviewed about this decision.
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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.