Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 1/20/2025

Voting Rights 

• Demonstrators recite names of more than 60,000 voters targeted for exclusion in Supreme Court race: Marathon protest, which was held across the street from the high court, ran from early Tuesday morning to late evening –Brandon Kingdollar, NC Newsline

  
  

• Protesters gather by NC Supreme Court as GOP candidate files new legal arguments: Protesters gathered in Raleigh Tuesday to draw attention to the 60,000 votes that Jefferson Griffin is trying to get thrown out in the still-unresolved election for a seat on the state Supreme Court. Also Tuesday, Griffin filed new arguments in court explaining his effort. –Laura Leslie and Will Doran, WRAL News

  
  

• GOP Judge Jefferson Griffin’s election case targets people who voted early –Lynn Bonner, NC Newsline

  
  

Reproductive Rights 

• NC Gov. Josh Stein issues executive order on abortion, reproductive rights: Protecting women's rights, particularly around reproductive freedoms, was a key focus of Stein's 2024 campaign for governor. He positioned himself in stark contrast with the Republican-led state legislature, which in 2023 passed a new law further restricting abortion access in North Carolina. –Will Doran, WRAL News

Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 1/13/2025

Governance

• The NCGA’s legislative session began on Wednesday. New members were sworn in, including Democrats Bryan Cohn in the NC House and Terrence Everitt in the NC Senate, whose victories were finalized with the issue of certificates two days prior to the start of the session.  Legislators signaled that relief for Western NC counties affected by Hurricane Helene would be a top priority once debate begins later in January.

Voting Rights 

• Last Monday U.S. District Judge Richard Myers II sent Jefferson Griffin’s challenge in the race for NC Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs’s seat back to state court. Shortly after Myers’s decision, both Justice Riggs and the State Board of Elections filed notice of appeal in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The next day the NC Supreme Court issued a ruling blocking the certification of Riggs’s victory, voting 4-2 to allow Griffin’s challenge to move forward. Griffin had improperly followed appeal procedure by asking the NC Supreme Court to review his challenge rather than appealing in Wake County Superior Court, which means that the State Board of Elections could have certified Rigg’s win had the state Supreme Court not intervened.

• A federal appeals court will hear the NC Supreme Court elections case: Ruling comes hours after a state court judge denied a GOP request for immediate action to invalidate votes cast in November. –Lynn Bonner, NC Newsline

• In a separate lawsuit brought in Wake County Superior Court, the state Republican Party and the Republican National Committee, along with the Wake County Republican Party and two voters, challenged over 60,000 ballots, seeking to have votes in many statewide races discarded. The Democratic National Committee submitted a brief opposing the challenge, pointing out that most of the races in question have already been certified, and that throwing out these ballots would mean retroactively disenfranchising tens of thousands of legitimately registered voters.

Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 1/6/25

Governance

• On January 1 Josh Stein was sworn in as North Carolina’s 76th governor. On his first day, he signed five executive orders to support Hurricane Helene relief for the western part of the state. The orders will temporarily waive regulations for procuring temporary housing, provide emergency funds for road and bridge repair, and establish new entities (a recovery office within the governor’s office and a Division of Community Revitalization within the Department of Commerce) to address recovery needs.

  
  

Voting Rights 

• After Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin continued his efforts to have more than 60,000 votes thrown out in his race against Justice Allison Riggs, Riggs asked a federal judge to deny Griffin’s request for a preliminary injunction to prevent certification of her victory. Griffin had asked the Republican-dominated state Supreme Court on December 18 to override the State Board of Elections’ decision not to throw out the ballots, but the case was then moved to a federal district court. US District Judge Richard Myers II is now considering Griffin’s request for an injunction along with Riggs’s brief urging him to deny the request.

  
  

• A federal judge sends NC Republican Judge Griffin’s contested voters case back to state court. Board of Elections certifies results of remaining state legislative contests.  –Lynn Bonner, NC Newsline

• On Sunday hundreds of people rallied at Halifax Mall in Raleigh in support of Justice Riggs, including voters whose votes would be thrown out if Jefferson Griffin and the Republican Party get their way.