5 Things to Know: Court Ruling Could Overturn NC Supreme Court Election

Court Ruling Could Overturn NC Supreme Court Election

A panel of three NC Court of Appeals judges ruled 2-1 on Friday in favor of throwing out more than 60,000 ballots from last November’s NC Supreme Court election by request of candidate Jefferson Griffin, who lost the election to sitting Justice Allison Riggs by 734 votes.

Republican Judges Fred Gore and John Tyson sided with Griffin. Judge Toby Hampson, a Democrat, dissented.

Griffin has been calling on the courts to throw out the votes from nearly 65,000 ballots that he claims came from voters who did not properly register, though the voters in question have been shown to have followed voter registration rules at the time of their registration.

While Friday’s ruling is likely to be appealed, as has been promised by Riggs, Griffin will need a 3-3 ruling or better from the NC Supreme Court, which will rule over the case as a 5-1 Republican majority with Riggs having recused herself, to have his challenge approved. That ruling would likely overturn the election, as Griffin has targeted ballots in heavily Democratic areas.

“Today’s ruling is a disgrace,” wrote Bob Phillips, executive director of nonpartisan voting rights organization Common Cause North Carolina, in a statement on Friday. “This poorly conceived decision is an extreme overreach and sides with a sore loser candidate over the citizens of our state. If allowed to stand, the ruling would inject chaos into North Carolina’s elections in ways that could disenfranchise tens of thousands of lawful voters and invite similar challenges nationwide.

“Let’s be clear: these North Carolina voters did absolutely nothing wrong,” Peters continued. “They followed the rules and cast ballots that should count. To say otherwise now is an affront to the rule of law and our Constitution. If Griffin gets his way, never again will the people of North Carolina be able to have confidence in the outcome of our elections. Instead, Griffin’s reckless lawsuit will open the door to an endless stream of other sore loser candidates who will attempt to throw out enough votes until they can cheat their way into office.”

County Opens Forest Point Place for Older Residents Experiencing Homelessness

Mecklenburg County marked the grand opening of Forest Point Place, a permanent, affordable housing option for adults 55 or older who have experienced homelessness and live with debilitating health conditions, on Tuesday.

The county spent over two years renovating the former hotel off Arrowood Road in southwest Charlotte where it previously housed unsheltered seniors at risk of contracting COVID-19 during the pandemic. Then in December 2022, the county purchased the hotel for nearly $15 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding and began renovation work.

Tenants began moving in July 2023 and the renovations have doubled the original capacity of the building to more than 90 residents.

More than 500 individuals of the nearly 3,000 currently struggling with homelessness in Mecklenburg County are considered older adults with health conditions, according to the county.

“More than one in four homeless residents in our community is an adult over the age of 55,” said Mecklenburg County Manager Dena Diorio at Tuesday’s opening ceremony. “This will be an affordable housing option for individuals, couples and parents with adult children who are 55 years and older experiencing homelessness and who have other vulnerabilities. This county commitment allows these residents the opportunity to age in place.”

The county invested an additional $1 million to add to the ARPA funding in fiscal year 2025, with an annualized budget of $2 million proposed for fiscal year 2026. The project is a partnership between Mecklenburg County Community Support Services and Roof Above.

“We celebrate not just the opening of Forest Point Place, but the promise that lives and communities can be transformed through partnership,” said Roof Above CEO Liz Clasen-Kelly.

Harding Teacher Arrested for Inappropriate Relations with Student

CMPD on Friday arrested a Harding University High School teacher and charged him with indecent liberties with a student after a school resource officer was made aware that the teacher had been sending inappropriate messages to a student at the school.

According to a release from the department, the school resource officer reported the texts on Friday and CMPD responded that day, carrying out an investigation and questioning the 34-year-old man before charging him with one felony count. It’s unclear at the time of this writing whether Lewis’ actions went past the messages that the resource officer originally uncovered.

In a statement sent to the families of Harding students, principal Carrisa Johnson-Scott stated that, though she could not comment on “personnel matters,” she did want to confirm the arrest and encourage anyone who had experienced anything they believe school staff and investigators should know to report said info to their parents and/or school administration.

Investigators Return to Site of Interest in Asha Degree Investigation

Investigators on Friday returned to an old abandoned school that has become a site of interest in the quarter-century-long investigation into the disappearance of Asha Degree.

Located on NC 182 off of NC 274 near Vale, detectives first searched the old school along with other homes and properties belonging to Roy Lee and Connie Dedmon in September, which marked the first notable action in the investigation in many years. The 9-year-old Degree went missing from her home in Shelby in February 2000.

Lee and Dedmon purchased the school in 1991 and sold it in 2004, as reported by the Shelby Star.

The investigation into Dedmon and his family reportedly began after a source came forward last fall and reported that one of Dedmon’s daughters confessed to killing Degree during a party. Since then, police have centered their investigation on the Dedmons, impounding a green AMC Rambler that matched the vague description of the car a witness claimed they saw Degree being shoved into before she disappeared.

Investigators have also unveiled suspicious text messages between Dedmon’s daughters. It’s unclear how the Dedmons were connected to Degree before the disappearance, if at all.

Bill Filed to Cover Dangerous Radar Gap in Charlotte

A bipartisan bill introduced in the US House of Representatives this week seeks to update America’s aging weather radar network and close dangerous coverage gaps in high-risk areas like Charlotte. The legislation is sponsored by US Rep. Tim Moore, former speaker of the NC House of Representatives from 2015 to 2025.

“The devastation of Hurricane Helene showed us just how important accurate weather data is to saving lives and hardening communities to minimize damage from upcoming storms and natural disasters,” said Moore. “Charlotte is one of the most populated regions in the country without full radar coverage, creating a blind spot that puts families at risk and hampers emergency response.”

NC Attorney General Jeff Jackson filed a similar measure while he was in Congress in 2023 before being gerrymandered out of his district to make a path for Moore’s victory in NC’s 14th congressional district.