Three counts found an incumbent Democrat won a State Supreme Court race. But the Republican candidate is trying to nullify more than 60,000 votes.

The North Carolina Supreme Court has dismissed a request by a Republican judge for a seat on its bench, declining to decide at this time whether over 60,000 ballots should be excluded from the final tally in his bid to unseat the leading Democratic candidate,

Ian McPherson reads names from a list of over 60,000 people who cast ballots in the November election but whose votes have been challenged by Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin in his extremely close race with Demcorat Allison Riggs on January 14, 2025, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Chris Seward/AP

An appeals court has agreed a federal trial judge acted properly last month in declining to rule on the eligibility of voters in an unresolved North Carolina Supreme Court election

The Federal Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that the fight over North Carolina’s Supreme Court race will remain in state court.

The election is among the final Nov. 5 races nationwide still not settled.

In a win for Judge Jefferson Griffin, his challenge to North Carolina Supreme Court seat race will remain in state court, with a federal court retaining jurisdiction of several federal issues, should they remain after state court proceedings are resolved.

Griffin, who trails Allison Riggs by over 700 votes in the NC Supreme Court race, is seeking to eliminate 65,000 votes.