NCSBE Information for Voters Challenged in Election Protest

Update April 25: The State Board of Elections updated their website on April 23 with the following information: 

Statement Updated April 23 with Information about Federal Court Decision in Griffin Protest

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.

For questions and answers the state board has received click here.

April 4 Statement

April 4, Raleigh, N.C. — Today, the North Carolina Court of Appeals issued a decision in the election protest brought by state supreme court candidate Jefferson Griffin. The court’s decision may require the county boards of elections to contact voters whose voter registration forms did not include a driver’s license number or last four digits of a social security number, and to allow those voters to provide that information to their county board of elections, to ensure their votes for the supreme court contest count in the 2024 general election.

The court’s decision may also require the county boards of elections to contact military and overseas-citizen voters who used absentee ballots to provide a copy of their photo identification, to ensure their votes for the supreme court contest count in the 2024 general election. This protest does not affect these voters’ selections in any other contest on the ballot.

The court’s decision is not yet in effect and is likely to be appealed. If the court’s decision does go into effect, the State Board of Elections will provide instructions to affected voters on how to comply with the court’s decision.

Regardless of the ultimate outcome of this ongoing legal dispute, any voter who is concerned that their voter registration information is incomplete or is not up to date should submit an updated voter registration form. Submitting an updated voter registration form is easy. Any voter who has a license from the DMV can go to payments.ncdot.gov to fill out a voter registration application. If you’re already registered, submitting this information will merely update your existing voter registration. You don’t need to create a special account with the DMV. You can select “Continue as Guest” on the DMV’s website and proceed directly to submitting your voter registration.

If you don’t have a license from the DMV, you can download a voter registration form at ncsbe.gov/registering, and then print, sign, and submit that paper form to your county board of elections. Contact and address information for the 100 county boards of elections is available here: https://vt.ncsbe.gov/BOEInfo/.

The State Board will provide updated information as this legal dispute develops.

Related: https://www.ncsbe.gov/information-voters-challenged-election-protest