The MeidasTouch Podcast
Justice Allison Riggs Reacts to Latest NC Court Ruling on Supreme Court Election
Fri, 04 Apr 2025
MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on the the latest ruling in the North Carolina Supreme Court race issues today in connection with November 2024 Supreme Court race where the the Democrat candidate Justice Allison Riggs won and the Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin refused to concede and is now seeking to disenfranchise 65k+ voters in North Carolina. Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is happening in the North Carolina Supreme Court race?
I want to talk about one of the most important elections that is still playing out right now that people need to talk about right now. And that is the North Carolina Supreme Court race. Let me break down what happened. I'm sure you heard about it because this really deals with issues of voter disenfranchisement of 65,000 plus North Carolina voters. And this is a playbook.
that is being tested right now in North Carolina that Republicans and MAGA, in my view, want to bring to other states as well when they lose elections. So back in November, of course, there were general elections, but there were other elections, House races, Senate races, Supreme Court races and states.
Chapter 2: Who are the candidates involved in the North Carolina Supreme Court race?
Remember how we've been covering the Supreme Court race in Wisconsin where there was a vacant seat there? Well, there was an election for a seat in North Carolina, and it was a seat that was held by Associate Justice Alison Riggs. She's the Democratic candidate. She was appointed in 2023, and her opponent in that race was a North Carolina Court of Appeals judge by the name of Jefferson Griffin.
He's the kind of Republican slash MAGA candidate. So in North Carolina, also, you have voter ID. You know, Republicans talk about voter ID. There was an election that was held. The Democratic candidate, Alison Riggs, won the election by 734 votes or so. Jefferson Griffin, the MAGA Republican candidate, called for a recount. Recount one is held and Alison Riggs wins the recount.
Recount two is held. Alison Riggs wins the election. Now, in normal circumstances, Justice Alison Riggs is the winner. Two recounts, voter ID, following all the election laws, race is over, right? Well, that's not what happened. Jefferson Griffin, the Republican candidate, said, no, I'm filing lawsuits. I'm a judge, North Carolina Court of Appeals judge. I'm filing lawsuits.
Chapter 3: Why is the North Carolina Supreme Court race disputed?
So litigation was held. There was a stay that was issued by the North Carolina Supreme Court. Just so you know, the composition of the North Carolina Supreme Court, it's five Republican aligned judges, two Democratic aligned judges.
because justice allison riggs is involved in the case she recused herself so it was a 5-1 ruling uh it stayed uh justice riggs being declared the winner staming pause stopped her from being declared even though she won the two recounts and then litigation brought by Jefferson Griffin, has played its way out through the courts.
And then on Friday, the day I'm recording this, we got a ruling from a right-leaning, Republican-leading court of appeals. And remember what I said before, that Jefferson Griffin also is on the Court of Appeals. He wasn't on this panel, but he's a Court of Appeals judge. And there was a two-to-one ruling. You see it.
This is how it's being reported on WECT6 News, saying Jefferson Griffin wins this election lawsuit. Now 65,000 ballots based on this ruling of voters who voted against are being challenged as not being voters, even though they went through all the steps and processes. Now, you may be saying, huh, what type of voters are these? What's even going on here?
Chapter 4: How are the absentee ballots being challenged in North Carolina?
Well, one of the things that was discovered is that people like Justice Alison Rigg's own parents are part of that batch of 65,000 that are being challenged. What's being challenged are absentee ballots, members of the military overseas and other people overseas. And then there are other claims about the way the... the way the ballots are being made or whatever.
No one really even knows what's even going on here, but just as Alison Riggs' own parents who voted for their daughter, they've been under this formula. They'll be disenfranchised as will 65,000 others. Here they are talking about it, what went down when they were shocked to learn what had transpired. Let's play it.
the list of challenged voters includes the parents of griffin's rival allison riggs they came to the event to read out their own names and we are christine riggs and jack riggs alice allison riggs's dad and mom and we would very much like our vote to be counted were you surprised to see your name on the list i was uh shocked to say the least
The Riggs don't know why they were challenged. I mean, I've been voting for 50 years now. I've never been challenged, never had a problem. And all of a sudden now my vote doesn't count.
Chapter 5: What is Justice Allison Riggs' response to the ruling?
Let's bring in Justice Allison Riggs. I gave a long introduction there because I wanted to try to break down all the complexity before bringing you in. If I missed anything or misspoke, you could let me know. But I tried my best to summarize it in simple terms. But I just want to get your reaction first, I guess, to the ruling. And if I had any errors there, you can correct me also, of course.
Well, thank you so much for having me today. It's such an honor to get to speak to your audience. Tomorrow is five months since Election Day. That's five months in which over 65,000, really it's over 68,000 North Carolina voters have felt stuck and scared. Voters like my parents, who did everything right, did everything that was asked of them, have never had issues voting before.
And they don't know what's going to happen to their vote because of this protracted litigation. I, before joining the bench, was a civil rights attorney. I focused on voting rights. So this is an area of law that I know well. And I can tell you that what my opponent seeks to do by tossing ballots, like my parents, my dad served 30 years in the military, including deployment in wartime.
And he used his military ID to register to vote, brought all the right documents. My mom used her driver's license, showed her driver's license when she went to vote this year to vote for me amongst other people. And she does not understand, and most people don't, why a woman who showed her driver's license number is being challenged because her driver's
voter file allegedly is lacking a driver's license number. She says to me, I showed them that. And it's really hard and my heart breaks because I know that there are tens of thousands of people across North Carolina, like my parents, who are not political activists. They're not politicians. They just are doing their civic duty, going out to be heard.
And what I am doing now, I am fighting to make sure that the will of North Carolina voters is respected. I am fighting to make sure that the precious fundamental right to vote is protected in this state, because not just because of my background and my commitment to this
important right, but because I put my hand on a Bible and swore an oath to God that I would defend our state and federal constitution and the rights protected therein. And so I am trying to make sure that folks know that I never thought this fight was going to be easy. I was a civil rights attorney. I understand what a tough fight looks like.
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Chapter 6: What are the implications of the ruling on voter rights?
I knew that this was going to be a long, hard fight, but I need people to know that what's happening in North Carolina matters across the country. What my opponent and his allies are trying to do here is what they tried to in 2020 and 2022 and failed to do, which is stop the certification of election, overturn election results that they don't like.
And if they succeed here, if they succeed in North Carolina, it is like dropping a match in a dry forest and we will not be able to contain the spread. So I know that this fight is about more than North Carolina. It's more than my seat and my oath. It is about the very soul of our democracy.
And I will not stop standing up for voters and standing in the way of any politician that tries to take the power away from the people.
So there was this ruling today on Friday, two to one ruling that would attack those 65,000 votes, including the votes of your parents, people who followed the process in a state with voter ID, who gave all of the documentation that they were supposed to give
who don't even understand how it's possible when they did everything right that their name was flagged as one of these votes that don't get counted. And now you have on the Court of Appeals, though, even though there was recount one, recount two, they're saying... We think that these 65,000 votes are going to have to go through, what, some other process.
So what happens now, I guess, both in terms of the litigation, where does that go? And then people in North Carolina, what do they need to know right now and what message should they be getting out so that in an age where people are like, is this an election? What do I do? There's a lot going on. The markets are crashing. People don't know what to do. So can you address both of those?
Yeah, this is why I'm so glad you took the time to break down the case. We're in state court right now in the system in which I serve. I think that this case is and so today's decision, Friday's decision, the decision of the Court of Appeals is deeply misinformed. I will promptly appeal it.
And this is going to work its way through the state court system, but I ultimately believe that this matter is going to get resolved in federal court, because there are federal laws that protect the rights of voters to vote, even if an administrative record is missing some information. There are laws on the books that ensure military voters can vote, and to be clear,
My opponent is and the Court of Appeals ruling today would disenfranchise 5500 military overseas voters deployed service members and in only four. of North Carolina's 100 counties. So my opponent didn't challenge all of the 32,000 military voters. We use the acronym UACAVA. He didn't challenge all 32,000 of those voters.
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