Last year, Republican North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin challenged incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs for a seat on the Tar Heel State's highest judicial body.

The election resulted in a protracted legal battle, which only came to an end this week when Griffin finally conceded. 

Federal judge upholds Riggs' 734-vote win

NBC News reported that Griffin's concession came after U.S. District Judge Richard Myers ordered the North Carolina State Board of Elections to certify Riggs' 734-vote win.

That ruling came after a months-long fight in which Griffin contested the validity of his opponent's razor-thin victory by alleging voter irregularities.

The Carolina Journal reported in February that Griffin pointed to 60,000 ballots that were submitted by individuals whose voter registration records lacked either a driver's license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number.

What's more, he also maintained that 5,500 ballots came from overseas voters who did not present a photo ID while an additional 267 ballots were cast by individuals who had never lived in North Carolina.

Myers: "You establish the rules before the game"

Nevertheless, Myers concluded that he could not constitutionally accede to Griffin's demand that tens of thousands of votes be excluded.

"You establish the rules before the game," the federal judge wrote in his 68-page ruling. "You don’t change them after the game is done."

NBC News quoted Griffin as saying, "While I do not fully agree with the District Court’s analysis, I respect the court’s holding – just as I have respected every judicial tribunal that has heard this case."

The Republican appellate court judge then went on to acknowledge that he "will not appeal" Myers' Wednesday decision.

Meanwhile, Riggs put out a statement of her own which read, "After millions of dollars spent, more than 68,000 voters at risk of losing their votes, thousands of volunteers mobilized, hundreds of legal documents filed, and immeasurable damage done to our democracy, I’m glad the will of the voters was finally heard, six months and two days after Election Day."

Republicans continue to hold a majority on state Supreme Court

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin also welcomed Myers' ruling, calling it "a righteous victory for democracy and a clear defeat of political gamesmanship."

"For 200 days, Republicans in North Carolina sought to overturn the will of the people, hijack a state Supreme Court seat, and systematically undermine basic faith in our elections," noted.

NBC News noted how Rigg's concession means that the North Carolina Supreme Court's composition will remain unchanged, with Republicans holding a five to two majority.