By Gordon Anderson | gordon@rantnc.com

A candidate for the North Carolina Supreme Court has challenged more than 60,000 votes across the state in a quest to overcome his opponent’s slim lead.

Of the votes being challenged by Republican Jefferson Griffin, 215 are in Lee County. Democrat Allison Riggs leads the race by just over 600 votes statewide.

The bases for the challenges vary – seven are voters Griffin’s campaign says aren’t registered, and two are alleged to be felons. One more is an absentee voter alleged to be ineligible to cast a ballot.

The remainder – 205 total – are voters the Griffin campaign says didn’t provide crucial information when registering, typically either a Social Security Number of driver’s license number. One of those names should be familiar to anyone who follows local politics – Taylor Vorbeck, a Republican member of the Lee County Board of Commissioners.

Vorbeck said she was notified by the North Carolina Republican Party that her name was on the list.

“I don’t understand how that information was removed,” she said when reached for comment, explaining that she registered to vote in Lee County in 2019 at the local DMV office. “Both my driver’s license and my Social Security Number were given to me by the government, so I don’t have any reason to hide them. I’m wondering if anyone is trying to figure out why that information was removed (from my registration). It’s baffling that this could happen.”

Vorbeck, who was elected in 2022 to represent the county’s fourth district on the Board of Commissioners, has voted without problem in primary, municipal and general elections in 2020, 2022, 2023, and 2024.

Vorbeck said the notice she received included a QR code that took her to the North Carolina State Board of Elections website, but suggested no other course of action.

Jane Rae Fawcett, Lee County’s elections director, told The Rant that the validity of votes challenged by the Griffin campaign will be determined by state elections staff in Raleigh and that a recount conducted locally didn’t change any votes in the race. A hearing of the Lee County Board of Elections is set for 5 p.m. Monday to look at the votes of a handful people alleged to be felons or whose verification is pending.

The State Board of Elections provided the following statement for anyone who has received a notice that their vote is being challenged:

“A candidate for N.C. Supreme Court, Jefferson Griffin, has challenged the election results and has alleged that some voters were not eligible to vote in the election. If you received a notice from the North Carolina Republican Party stating, ‘your vote may be affected by one or more protests filed in relation to the 2024 general election,’ it means that Mr. Griffin has alleged that your ballot is ineligible. The State Board and county boards of elections are considering these challenges in the coming weeks. If you would like to get in touch with the parties to this proceeding, the email address for the candidate bringing the challenges is info@jeffersongriffin.com. The email address for the candidate opposing the challenges is team@riggsforourcourts.com.”

For her part, Vorbeck visited the Lee County Board of Elections on Tuesday and filled out a new registration form.

“They printed off my voter registration form, and they couldn’t say why that information wasn’t on there,” she said. “I’d give them my blood type if they wanted it. It’s just bizarre that I can vote (in eight elections) and this happens now.”