Information for Voters Challenged in Election Protest
Statement Updated April 23 with Information about Federal Court Decision in Griffin Protest
[Note: This page was updated on April 23, 2025]
On April 11, 2025, the North Carolina Supreme Court issued a decision in the election protest brought by state supreme court candidate Jefferson Griffin. It would require two things:
First, the decision would require certain military and overseas voters to provide a copy of their photo identification or claim an exception to the ID requirement, to ensure their ballot is counted for the November 2024 supreme court justice contest. This ruling would affect military and overseas absentee voters registered in Guilford County, although the courts are currently considering whether that decision should also encompass such voters in Buncombe, Cumberland, Durham, Forsyth, and New Hanover counties.
Second, the decision would remove the votes in the supreme court justice contest from certain overseas-citizen voters who have never resided in the United States but whose parents were North Carolina residents. This ruling would affect such voters in 53 counties across the state, although the courts are currently considering whether that decision should also encompass such voters in other counties.
However, on April 22, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit stopped this decision from going into effect. The stop is in place while the federal courts consider whether the North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision complies with federal laws.
The State Board of Elections will quickly provide further information to the affected counties and voters if the federal courts allow the North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to move forward.
In the meantime, below are some answers to questions we’ve received.
FAQ: Court Decisions in the Griffin Protest
First, the court decision is not yet in effect. If it goes into effect, your county board would notify you on how to proceed. The decision is currently on hold while federal courts consider the case.
This decision impacts about 1,400 voters in Guilford County who are military or overseas citizens who voted via absentee ballot. However, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina is currently considering whether this should also encompass such voters in Buncombe, Cumberland, Durham, Forsyth, and New Hanover counties.
While we wait to see if this decision will go into effect, if you are one of the affected voters, you are welcome to submit a photocopy of your photo identification to your county board out of an abundance of caution.
Acceptable types of photo identification—including NC driver’s licenses, military IDs, and passports—are listed here. You can send this to your county board of elections via email, mail or commercial carrier, in person at the county board office, or by fax. For affected voters in Guilford County who want to email their photo ID document, please send it to absentee@guilfordcountync.gov. Contact information for all county boards of elections is available here: vt.ncsbe.gov/boeinfo.
The county board will retain your photo ID documents securely and separately, in case the court decision goes into effect. If you are unable to provide a photocopy of your photo ID and the court decision goes into effect, your county board of elections will notify you of your options to meet the photo ID requirement.
First, the court decision is not yet in effect. The decision is being reviewed by a federal court.
Basically, despite a state law that allows voters such as you to vote, the North Carolina Supreme Court concluded the state constitution does not allow this. If the court’s decision goes into effect, it would require your ballot to be located and your vote in the supreme court contest to be removed from the count.
The State Board of Elections is aware that some voters have been incorrectly challenged as having never lived in North Carolina when they have, in fact, lived in the state. If the decision goes into effect, the State Board plans to provide challenged voters an opportunity to show that they are not supposed to be subject to the court’s order because they have been residents of the county where they voted.
To avoid any confusion because this case is still being considered by the federal courts, the county boards have been instructed not to contact voters yet to tell them they need to do anything to fix any issues with their registration or ballots. It is possible that the decision will get reversed or changed. As explained in item 1 above, if you’re a voter with concerns about your photo ID documentation, you can submit photo ID documentation to your county board of elections.
If the North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision went into effect, a few things must occur before any action is taken to notify voters. First, the case would need to be returned to the State Board of Elections, and the State Board would then need to direct the county boards of elections on how to implement the order. Next, the county boards would need to identify voters who would need to be contacted. This would have to be a careful process to exclude any voters who are not subject to the court decision—for example, they already provided their photo ID information or, if they are alleged to be a nonresident, they have lived in the county where they voted. After that period of identifying the voters who need to be notified, then the State Board would direct the county boards to start notifying affected voters of what they can do to ensure their ballot counts.