It has been nearly a month since Election Day, and North Carolina voters still don't know who officially won a close race for a state Supreme Court seat.

As of Thursday, amid a still unfinished recount, Democratic incumbent Justice Allison Riggs maintained a more than 600-vote lead over her Republican challenger, Jefferson Griffin, according to the Raleigh News & Observer.

Griffin and his Republican backers have not yet conceded defeat, however, and are gearing up for likely legal challenges over tens of thousands of ballots that they insist shouldn't have been counted.

Democratic justice holds slim lead amid extended recount of close race

The Carolina Journal reported on Wednesday that just 30 of North Carolina's 100 counties had reported no changes to their vote totals after completing the recount of the contested state Supreme Court race, though the changes in the rest of the counties have been relatively modest, with gains in some counties offset by losses in others, which has impacted both candidates.

The recount, which was requested by Griffin, was supposed to have been completed by Wednesday but the deadline was extended until next week as some counties still have some ballots left to count.

At the end of Election Night, Griffin led Riggs by more than 10,000 votes, but that lead eventually disappeared as tens of thousands of provisional ballots were counted in the days and weeks after the election was held.

In addition to the recount, Griffin also filed challenges with election officials to around 60,000 of those provisional ballots that he insists should not have been counted, and depending upon how those officials decide to handle the candidate's complaints, those challenges could turn into a lawsuit in the coming days that will likely further delay a final declaration of the victor.

Lawsuits filed

Meanwhile, per the Journal, Griffin and a pair of Republican state legislative candidates have filed an amici brief with the state Supreme Court for a separate but somewhat related lawsuit that challenges the state's rules regarding counting ballots from overseas voters.

"Amici curiae have a very direct interest in the outcome of the petition pending before the Court. Amici are candidates in the 2024 general election," the candidates said in the brief. "The winners of their contests have not been certified because of irregularities in those elections. Amici have filed election protests for each of their races, which remain pending before the state and county election boards."

"One of the key bases for the election protests is unlawful voting by people who have never lived in North Carolina," the brief added. "That is also the key legal question before this Court. How this Court resolves that question may directly impact who wins each of these contests, given their slim margins."

Top Republican alleges possible fraud in contentious Supreme Court race

WRAL News reported that the shifting vote totals after the election and delayed final tallies of the still incomplete recount, as well as the inclusion of challenged provisional ballots in those totals, have sparked outrage and suspicion among some Republican lawmakers who are skeptical of the post-election procedures.

"We're seeing played out, at this point, another episode of 'Count until somebody you want to win wins,'" Republican State Senate Leader Phil Berger said last week, raising allegations of potential fraud in favor of Justice Riggs. "We are now what, almost three weeks from the election. And they're still counting votes? Something ain't working right."

Of course, state election officials have rebutted Berger's allegations of fraud and demanded a retraction while making various excuses for why it has taken the state so long to finish counting ballots nearly a month after they were first cast.

The outlet predicted that the recount would likely be finally finished during the first week of December, at which point voters will know whether the North Carolina Supreme Court will remain as a 5-2 GOP majority court if Riggs holds on to win or increase to a 6-1 split in favor of Republicans if Griffin ultimately prevails -- though potential lawsuits could further delay that determination.