Protests scheduled across Triangle amid update to NC Supreme Court race

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- After a judge ruled last week to reject an election protest from Jefferson Griffin -- who trails Allison Riggs by just 734 votes in their NC Supreme Court race -- a new filing this week could impact where that highly watched case goes next.

It comes as protests are planned across the Triangle in response to Griffin's efforts to toss out 60,000 votes in that race.

"Our state courts have the power to protect our voters from claims like this. And the question is, are our state courts able to stand up to the partisan pressure and make the decision that is best for our state's democracy," said Ann Webb, Policy Director with Common Cause North Carolina.

Webb said the Republican majority on both the State Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court should have residents taking note of how the judicial process plays out in the race.

"I think North Carolinians should be paying close attention to what this court does and ask themselves whether the court is behaving the way we think our courts should," she said.

A new petition from the State Board of Elections and Allison Riggs, intended to be filed this week, would move to bypass the State Court of Appeals and take the case directly to the State Supreme Court.

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"If you look at the makeup of the Court of Appeals, it's a 15-member court. It hears cases in three-member panels, and there are 12 Republicans and three Democrats," said Mitch Kokai, Senior Political Analyst at the Locke Foundation.

Kokai said bypassing the State Court of Appeals as that petition would seek to do has political implications -- but would also speed up what's become a drawn-out process.

"The state Supreme Court in its last order in this case ordered the superior court to work expeditiously, which suggests that the Supreme Court would like to get this resolved fairly quickly," Kokai said. "Taking the case directly and not having it go through the court of appeals would be an expeditious process."

This weekend, several local rallies are planned in response to Griffin's challenge of the race, starting with an afternoon rally in Apex. In Fayetteville, the NAACP is leading a rally at 2 p.m. before a similar event steps off in Raleigh on Monday at Noon.

Webb said the result of the race -- and a possible overturning of last week's court ruling -- has major implications beyond our state.

"While we might view this as a North Carolina issue and an issue of concern just for these 60,000 voters, that is really not the case. This goes well beyond just this election and just these voters," she said.