Information for Voters Challenged in Election Protest

Statement Updated April 14 with Information about Supreme Court Decision in Griffin Protest

[Note: This page was updated on April 14, 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. A day later, a federal judge ordered the State Board of Elections to begin implementing the Supreme Court order.

The Supreme Court decision removed from the protest voters whose voter registration forms did not include a driver’s license number or last four digits of a Social Security number (and didn’t check the box indicating they lacked these numbers). Those voters – the largest group of voters challenged by the protest – no longer must provide that information to their county boards of elections to ensure their votes for the supreme court contest count in the 2024 general election.

The Supreme Court decision, however, would require challenged military and overseas-citizen voters who submitted an absentee ballot to provide a copy of their photo identification, or a Photo ID Exception Form, to ensure their votes for the supreme court contest count in the 2024 general election.

The decision would also require certain county boards of elections to identify and remove from the count – in the Supreme Court contest only – the votes from U.S. citizen voters who have never lived in the United States but have parental connections to North Carolina.

As soon as possible, the State Board of Elections will provide detailed instructions to the affected counties and voters on how to comply with the decision.