The NC Supreme Court put a hold on election result certification for a contested seat following a narrow win by Democrat Riggs over Republican Griffin.

The move gives the court time to consider a challenge by Republican Jefferson Griffin, who has cited debunked legal theories in his previous failed attempts to block Justice Allison Riggs’ reelection.

Democrats and voting rights groups are sounding the alarm after the North Carolina Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the state election board from certifying the Democratic winner of a Supreme

The State Board of Elections is now temporarily blocked from certifying Allison Riggs as the winner in the Supreme Court election while the court considers her opponent’s challenge of 60,000 ballots.

Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin trails Democratic incumbent Allison Riggs in their race for a seat on the state Supreme Court, but Griffin says that very tribunal should handle his effort to invalidate more than 60,

Three counts show an incumbent Democrat won election to the State Supreme Court. But an unusual protest by the G.O.P. challenger could be headed to that same Republican-controlled court.

In his dissent, Justice Richard Dietz wrote that permitting such a case “invites incredible mischief” and will “lead to doubts about the finality of vote counts following an election.”

One of the high court's conservative justices dissented from an order blocking certification of an election in which a Democratic incumbent justice leads a GOP challenger

The ultimate winner gets an eight-year term on a Supreme Court where five of the seven current justices are registered Republicans.