Washington, D.C. — Today, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC) released a new episode of its Drawing the Line podcast featuring Eric H. Holder, Jr., the 82nd Attorney General of the United States and Chairman of the NDRC, and Justice Allison Riggs, whose re-election to the North Carolina Supreme Court has been challenged in court by Republican opponent Judge Jefferson Griffin. 

Despite multiple recounts and evaluations by the North Carolina Board of Elections, Judge Griffin filed an outrageous legal challenge contesting more than 65,000 ballots, many from Democratic-leaning counties, aiming to change the voting rules after an election and overturn the results of the election. For months, this case has made its way through the state and federal courts. Most recently, the Republican majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court issued a shocking decision that throws out legally cast ballots of overseas voters and targets military members to again prove their identity within 30 days to ensure the votes they cast in November are counted. Justice Riggs has since asked the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina to block this decision, and the court has yet to rule on the merits.

In the episode, Justice Riggs joins Attorney General Holder to discuss what’s at stake in this pivotal legal battle in North Carolina and what comes next in the fight for free and fair elections.

The full podcast episode can be watched here. Excerpts from the interview transcript are below:

ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER: “These folks are more concerned about the acquisition and retention of power at all costs, and I think that has a really negative impact on our society and the belief that people have in government.”

[…]

ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER: “Now, how do you pick four counties out of 100 to challenge if those four counties are predominantly Democratic? Well, how do you do that? It seems to me that that’s a fundamental flaw in the argument that they’re trying to make.”

[…]

JUSTICE ALLISON RIGGS: “The North Carolina Supreme Court issued a four-page opinion — no merits briefing, no oral arguments. At least the 60,000 voters who were targeted for alleged registration issues are safe now, and that’s because people spoke out. But let me be clear: it’s not constitutionally acceptable to disenfranchise even a few thousand voters, let alone 65,000. Military voters were explicitly told they didn’t need to provide photo ID. They relied on that — and now they’re being told they must scan and transmit a copy of their ID to North Carolina.”

[…]

JUSTICE ALLISON RIGGS: “It’s outrageous. Military voters were explicitly told they didn’t need to include photo ID when voting absentee — because they don’t. That’s federal law. But now, months after the election, a new court order is demanding they do just that — provide an ID copy retroactively. Think about someone serving on a submarine in the Atlantic, or stationed in Alaska or Italy. How are they even supposed to know this is happening?”

ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER: “So their votes are at risk of not being counted?” 
JUSTICE ALLISON RIGGS: “Exactly. If they don’t respond, their votes won’t be counted. We’re talking about service members who followed the rules — and now we’re changing those rules after the fact. It’s completely unacceptable. And we’re fighting it in federal court because it’s a clear violation of due process and federal election law.” 

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