42 former NC election leaders: How chaos will ensue if Griffin prevails in court race

Editor's note: The following opinion piece was authored by 42 former county directors of elections and appeared in the News and Observer, March 11, 2025)

We are among a group of 42 former county directors of elections who recently provided state judges with our perspective about Jefferson Griffin’s request to disqualify more than 65,000 voters in the 2024 N.C. Supreme Court contest. Members of our group come from every part of the state and have more than 750 years of combined experience in managing elections.

Though normally behind-the-scenes administrators, we are speaking out now because of the significant impact this case could have on the integrity of our state’s election system.

First, the election laws that voters relied on to cast their ballots in 2024 have been in place for years. Election directors relied on those rules to conduct the election in a uniform manner across the state, without favoritism or bias.

Changing these laws and rules in the middle of an election is disruptive. Changing them after an election to apply to the election already held is chaos. How can the public trust our election system if the rules can be changed after the results are known in order to produce a different outcome?

Sanctioning Jefferson Griffin’s effort to retroactively change election rules would open a Pandora’s box of partisan maneuvering and undermine the ability of administrators to conduct an orderly and fair election.

Second, the state rules and laws that Griffin references in his challenge provided unambiguous guidance to citizens about how to register and vote. Federal laws add a layer of complexity to his case, but he has sought to have his challenge heard in state court based on his interpretation of state laws regarding three groups of voters.

The smallest group of ballots Griffin seeks to disqualify were cast by several hundred overseas voters who have never resided in this state but who are family members of eligible North Carolina voters living abroad. Waiving the residency requirement may pose a constitutional issue, but a state law adopted in 2011 — and unchallenged in court — specifically allows these non-residents to vote in our elections. Election directors must implement the law as it is written, regardless of personal opinions about its merit.

The largest group Judge Griffin has challenged are 60,273 voters with allegedly incomplete voter registrations. Griffin insists these are ineligible voters because he says state law “requires” their registration to include a North Carolina driver’s license number or last four digits of their Social Security number or a statement that they lack either document.

But state law actually only requires that voter registration forms “request” an applicant’s driver’s license or Social Security number. Another statute says if an application received “by mail or by another means” does not contain a verified identity number, then applicants can register and vote if they submit an identifying document (such as a current utility bill or photo ID) “in the first election in which the individual votes.” During our collective service as directors, thousands of voters registered in accordance with these clear rules. These registrations were lawful and complete — not “incomplete.”

Finally, Griffin has challenged 5,509 military and overseas voters who did not include a copy of a photo ID with their ballots. But the Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act of 2011 says these voters must provide identity proof in order to receive a ballot and additional “authentication” is “not required.” That law helps explain why a rule exempts these voters from including a photo ID when they submit their ballot.

In summary, from the perspective of officials charged with administering North Carolina elections for decades, the state laws at issue in this case are straightforward and unambiguous. The citizens of North Carolina who obeyed the laws and the directions of election officials should not have their votes discarded.