North Carolina voting rights coalition condemns court ruling that threatens to invalidate over 65,000 legitimate ballots

Statement below from: ACLU NC, Action NC, Association of Mexicans in North Carolina (AMEXCAN), Carolina Jews for Justice, Common Cause North Carolina, Common Defense, Democracy North Carolina, Emancipate NC, Forward Justice, Hispanic Federation, League of Women Voters NC, NAACP North Carolina State Conference, NC Climate Solutions Coalition, NC Coalition for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, NC Council of Churches, NC Counts Coalition, NC Environmental Justice Network, NC Justice Center, NC League of Conservation Voters, NC Voter Project, NextGen America, North Carolina Asian Americans Together, North Carolina Black Alliance, North Carolina For The People, Pro-Choice North Carolina, Protect Democracy, Southern Coalition for Social Justice, The Freedom Center for Social Justice, Tranzmission, Inc, Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry of North Carolina, WomenAdvance NC.

​Over 65,000 North Carolina voters who followed all election rules in place on Election Day now face the prospect of having their voices silenced due to an unprecedented court ruling. On April 4, 2025, a North Carolina appeals court ruled in favor of Judge Jefferson Griffin’s challenge to the 2024 state Supreme Court election results, targeting ballots disproportionately cast by Black, Asian American & Pacific Islander, military, and young adult voters ages 18 to 25, ordering a so-called “cure process,” which has not started.

While the North Carolina Supreme Court issued a stay of this ruling on April 7, 2025, and could overrule the lower court’s reckless decision, if allowed to stand, the Court of Appeals order would set a dangerous precedent, allowing legal and eligible votes to be tossed out based on new rules created months after the election concluded–when voters followed all of the rules in place on Election Day–and on technicalities or perceived errors in the process that were outside voters’ control.