5 Things to Know: NC Supreme Court Rules on Griffin Challenge

NC Supreme Court Upholds Local Votes, Leaves Overseas Votes in Question

The saga of the country’s only remaining uncertified 2024 election is nearing a conclusion … but we’re not quite there yet. The NC Supreme Court made a major ruling late on Friday regarding who will occupy the seventh seat on the bench moving forward.

In the ruling, the NC Supreme Court rejected candidate Jefferson Griffin’s challenge of ballots from more than 60,000 local voters, upholding those votes while leaving the ballots of more than 5,000 military members and other absentee voters living overseas in limbo. Those voters will have 30 days to provide photo ID, something that was not required at the time of their registration, in order to make their votes count.

Sitting Justice Allison Riggs won last November’s election by 734 votes. While Griffin’s challenge of in-state voters targeted Democratic areas specifically, it’s unclear how the rejection of certain military and other absentee ballots will affect the results once those who don’t provide ID are removed from the count in a month, though there is plenty of potential that the change could overturn Riggs’ victory.

Riggs, who has already promised to appeal Friday’s decision, released a statement shortly after the ruling: “I’m the proud daughter of a 30-year military veteran who was deployed overseas, and it is unacceptable that the Court is choosing to selectively disenfranchise North Carolinians serving our country, here and overseas. While I’m gratified to see the Court of Appeals reversed on the erroneous decision to potentially disenfranchise the more than 60,000 North Carolinians whose registration my opponent has recklessly challenged, I will not waiver in my fight to protect the fundamental freedoms for which our military service members and their families have sacrificed so much.”

Gov. Josh Stein weighed in on Twitter a couple hours later, writing, “Today is a dark day for our courts and our state. The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled that certain active duty military voters serving our nation must jump through hoops that other voters don’t. All voters have a constitutional right to be treated equally under the law — it is foundational to our democracy. It’s unconscionable, and this decision cannot stand.”

Republicans Repeatedly Delay Vote on DEI Bill

The North Carolina Democratic Party called out their Republican counterparts for canceling a scheduled vote on House Bill 171, which would ban DEI policies and training sessions in all state government agencies, on Tuesday after dozens of protesters packed the House gallery to decry the bill.

“Instead of addressing the real issues that are affecting North Carolina pocketbooks, Republicans are chasing a boogieman to punish hardworking public servants for caring about fellow North Carolinians,” read a statement from the NCDP on Tuesday evening.

“They introduced a bill to ban Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in state and local governments. They scheduled the bill to be voted on today so North Carolina Democrats mobilized to have the public present. But they didn’t want to pass a racist bill in broad daylight … so they moved the vote to tomorrow,” the statement continued. “Democracy dies in darkness and they are doing everything they can to pull the wool over North Carolinians eyes.”

For his part, Republican NC House Speaker Destin Hall insisted the vote was rescheduled in order to make last-minute changes to the DEI bill and invited protesters to return on Wednesday for the vote. Many did return only for Hall to delay the vote another week, citing the absence of its lead sponsor, Rep. Brenden Jones, a Republican from Columbus County.

“Déjà vu: Today’s vote on the bill that was pulled unexpectedly yesterday was pulled unexpectedly today,” tweeted NC House Democratic leader Robert Reives on Wednesday. “We don’t know when the vote will be held, but I remain a NO on this harmful bill.”

The House’s DEI bill is currently scheduled for reconsideration on Wednesday, April 16.

Meanwhile, the NC Senate did approve its own DEI bill, Senate Bill 558, which would ban campuses from endorsing or affirming a slew of vaguely defined “divisive concepts” and “discriminatory practices.” Opponents warned the bill could negatively impact needed programs such as scholarships offered to rural students.

Local NAACP Chapter Speaks Out About Ardrey Kell Incident

Charlotte-Mecklenburg NAACP President Corine Mack led a press conference Monday to insist that an assault that took place at Ardrey Kell High School in March was not a hate crime but a fight between two students.

The incident, which involved two classmates — one a Black boy and the other a Muslim girl — led to calls for a hate crime investigation after the girl suffered broken bones in her face. Her family claimed the boy had bullied her for her religion in the days leading up to the final confrontation.

In an interview with The Charlotte Observer published on Thursday, the girl claimed she was actually defending her friend from ongoing bullying by the boy when he attacked her.

In late March, the boy’s family released a statement claiming that the girl had been the aggressor and the boy had only defended himself.

Mack said the NAACP was not taking sides but wanted to address the fact that “inflammatory statements have mischaracterized the incident,” resulting in reported death threats against the boy, alleged incidents of vandalism at his home and the need to assign CMPD to protect him and his family.

“Every statement that has been made, has been made intentionally,” Mack said. “And those statements are causing a racial divide between the Black and Arab community, something we do not need.”

CMPD and the FBI have not found evidence to support a charge under NC hate crime laws at the time of this writing.

Man Killed in Uptown Hit-and-Run

A 61-year-old man was killed after a driver struck him with her car and fled the scene on Saturday, April 5.

According to CMPD, at approximately 9:25 p.m. that night, first responders were called to an accident with personal injury call on West 4th Street in Third Ward, where they located an unresponsive pedestrian, 64-year-old Michael Joseph Janik, lying on the shoulder of the roadway with life-threatening injuries. The driver who struck Janik fled the scene before police arrived. Medic transported Janik to Atrium Health, where he was pronounced dead.

The initial investigation indicated that Janik was attempting to cross West 4th Street outside of a designated crosswalk when he was struck by the driver of a silver 2017 Chevrolet Cruze. With the assistance of CMPD’s Real Time Crime Center, officers canvassed the area and located the Chevrolet Cruze outside of a home in west Charlotte’s Enderly Park neighborhood. Damage to the front of the vehicle was consistent with striking a pedestrian, according to CMPD.

In the above map of deaths due to traffic-related incidents in Charlotte in 2025, red markers signify a person killed in their car, black markers signify pedestrian deaths, purple markers signify motorcycle and moped deaths, yellow markers signify pedestrians killed by trains, and green markers signify deaths involving micro-mobility vehicles such as bicycles, scooters, skateboards and wheelchairs.

Officers located the driver of the Chevrolet, a 44-year-old woman, screened her for impairment and placed her under arrest for felony death by vehicle and felony hit and run. Excessive speed and impairment are suspected factors for the driver.

Janik was the second pedestrian killed by a driver in Charlotte this month and the sixth thus far in 2025. A report released Wednesday in which personal injury law firm Kitchel Law analyzed National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data from 2018 to 2022 found that North Carolina ranked fourth nationwide in hit-and-run incidents. The state saw 5.34 hit-and-run crashes per 100,000 licensed drivers during that time, far exceeding the national average of 1.65.

Wiley Nickel to Challenge Thom Tillis’ Senate Seat

Having left the US House of Representatives in 2024 in response to Republican gerrymandering, former Democratic congressman Wiley Nickel announced this week that he will run for statewide office, running against US Sen. Thom Tillis in 2026 to challenge the seat Tillis has held since 2015.

After serving two terms in the NC Senate, Nickel ran for Congress in 2022 and defeated the Trump-backed Republican candidate Bo Hines in a closely watched race, winning one of just six seats that flipped from red to blue that cycle. Nickel outperformed Biden’s 2020 margin and the top of the ticket in 2022.

Read more: US Rep. Wiley Nickel Brings FAIR MAPS Act Tour to Charlotte (2024)

“Donald Trump is shredding our constitution and billionaires are cutting Medicare, dismantling FEMA and taking a sledgehammer to our education system,” Nickel said in a release announcing his candidacy on Wednesday. “It’s happening right now, and Thom Tillis is cheering them on. North Carolinians are struggling with rising costs, low wages and a Senator who cares more about his own career than helping them. I can’t sit on the sidelines and watch it happen.”