Dem
47
GOP
53
As of yesterday, it may be that the 2024 election in North Carolina, which saw ballots cast a mere 183 days ago, is finally over. Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina Richard E. Myers ruled that Jefferson Griffin's desperate attempts to snatch victory from the jaws of electoral defeat must end, and that the results of the North Carolina state Supreme Court election must be certified, making Democratic-backed candidate Allison Riggs (who already took her seat, by the way) the winner.
Although the ruling was 68 pages, primarily because legal professionals take 4 pages just to clear their throats, the finding was a simple and obvious one: If North Carolina voters were allowed to submit invalid registrations, and those registrations were processed, that is the fault of government employees, and is not justification for invaliding the voters' ballots. If North Carolina WERE to invalidate the ballots, that would violate the voters' due process rights.
Griffin has 7 days to appeal, and since he's apparently a desperate man, willing to throw any Hail Mary pass, he will presumably avail himself of that opportunity. However, he is burdened by two problems: (1) a lousy legal argument, and (2) an increasingly short list of courts to which he could possibly appeal. We would guess that he won't have much success at the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, and that will be that. We'll know, one way or another, within the week. (Z)