The race for an open seat on North Carolina's highest judicial body remains unsettled, with both contenders still battling in court.

The fight took another turn late last week when a judge refused the Republican candidate's attempt to have more than 65,000 ballots thrown out. 

Judge sides with State Board of Elections

According to The Carolina Journal, that finding came on Friday following a request brought by Republican North Carolina Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin.

Griffin ran against Democrat Allison Riggs and is currently trailing her by  734 votes out of the 5.5 million ballots which were cast statewide.

In his ruling, Wake County Superior Court Judge William Pittman upheld a December decision by the State Board of Elections to reject three separate ballot objections.

"The Court concludes as a matter of law that the Board’s decision was not in violation of constitutional provisions, was not in excess of statutory authority or jurisdiction of the agency, was made upon lawful procedure, and was not affected by other error of law," Pittman wrote.

Griffin is expected to appeal Pittman's ruling

The Journal noted that Griffin is expected to appeal Pittman's ruling, which would bring the matter back before the North Carolina state Supreme Court.

The state Supreme Court had previously issued an injunction which barred the State Board of Elections from certifying Riggs' victory.

Pittman's decision came just days after the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals refused requests from Riggs and the State Board of Elections to have their case heard in federal court.

A 4th Circuit panel unanimously decided that U.S. Chief District Judge Richard Myers was within his rights to not hear the matter.

Case may end up back in federal court

However, the panel did conclude that Myers must take up the matter and address any federal concerns after state courts have fulling litigated matters relating to state law.

The @NCSBE and Riggs have signaled plans to take an election dispute back to federal court if they lose the state court level. #ncpolhttps://t.co/hPTDSO8k0u

— Carolina Journal (@CarolinaJournal) February 7, 2025

For his part, Griffin maintains that roughly 60,000 of the ballots in question were cast by voters whose registration records lack either a driver's license number or the last four digits of a social security number.

What's more, 5,500 ballots came from overseas voters who did not present a photo ID while another 267 ballots came from people who have apparently never lived in North Carolina.