Jefferson Griffin

An appeals court agreed Tuesday that a federal trial judge acted properly last month in declining to rule on the eligibility of tens of thousands of voters last fall in an unresolved North Carolina Supreme Court election and returning the matter to state court.

Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin is getting financial help from fellow Court of Appeals judge Tom Murry in his legal battle to win a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court.

The Republican candidate in a race for a state Supreme Court seat, Jefferson Griffin, is still seeking to reverse the outcome, even after two recounts showed Democratic Associate Justice Allison Riggs narrowly winning the election. Riggs remains on the court while the legal battles play out.

The North Carolina Supreme Court dismissed on Wednesday a request by the trailing candidate in an extremely close race for a seat on this same court to rule now on whether well over 60,000 ballots should be removed from the tally.

Bob Phillips, with government watchdog group Common Cause North Carolina, says the organization created a mobile billboard to alert voters across the state to the matter, which he called "absurd."

North Carolina's highest court blocked on Tuesday the certification of a November election result for one of its own seats so it can review legal arguments by a trailing candidate who contends over 60,000 ballots that were cast shouldn't be counted.

The ongoing saga over the race for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat is in the hands of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, for now.

North Carolina's elections board dismissed formal protests Wednesday by several Republican candidates who trailed narrowly in their races last month and had questioned well over 60,000 ballots cast

North Carolina election officials won't order another recount in a close state Supreme Court race after a partial hand recount failed to suggest the trailing Republican candidate could overtake the Democratic incumbent.