North Carolina

Federal judge punts disputed judicial race back to North Carolina's conservative state Supreme Court

Published

1 year ago

January 7, 2025

Federal judge punts disputed judicial race back to North Carolina's conservative state Supreme Court

Republican judicial candidate Jefferson Griffin is getting the audience he wanted for his claim that 60,000 ballots should be invalidated in his electoral loss to Democrat Allison Riggs. A federal district court judge has remanded Griffin’s election protest to the heavily conservative state Supreme Court, the same court Griffin is trying to join.

After the general election and two recounts — a statewide machine recount and a partial hand-to-eye recount of ballots from randomly selected early voting sites and Election Day precincts in each county — Allison Riggs, the Democratic incumbent, holds a 734-vote lead over Griffin.

The vote count notwithstanding, Griffin, a judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals, has fought to throw out more than 60,000 ballots for alleged irregularities despite lacking evidence of any actual voter ineligibility.

In most of the cases, Griffin has alleged the disputed ballots were cast by voters who did not properly register under North Carolina law. The issue has to do with voters who registered — some of them many years and election cycles ago — using a form that predated the federal Help America Vote Act, or HAVA, of 2002. The pre-HAVA registration form did not clearly mandate registrants provide the last four digits of their Social Security number or their driver’s license number.

Griffin’s protests notwithstanding, neither state law nor HAVA makes having a Social Security number or a driver’s license number a prerequisite for voting.

In cases where elections officials cannot confirm the last four digits of a voter’s Social Security number or that person’s driver’s license number — often due to a clerical error — that voter must present a so-called HAVA document, such as a utility bill, when they first show up to vote.

And if a person registering to vote does not have a Social Security number or a driver’s license number, HAVA provides that a state elections administration office must assign the voter a special identification number for the purposes or registering.

Griffin has also protested the counting of ballots submitted by some absentee military and overseas voters who did not provide photo identification, even though state administrative code, in accordance with federal law, explicitly excuses such overseas voters from that requirement.

Additionally, Griffin has alleged some ballots should be discarded because they were cast by ineligible voters who live overseas. These protests claim children of overseas voters — for example, missionaries and military personnel — who had never resided in North Carolina, should not have been allowed to vote, though such voters are eligible under state law, again, in line with federal laws protecting the voting rights of overseas citizens.

After the state elections board dismissed Griffin’s ballot protests due to a lack of evidence of improper voting and a failure to provide affected voters with adequate notice, the Republican candidate filed a writ of prohibition directly with the state Supreme Court.

Griffin circumvented the typical state court appeals process and asked the high court to block the elections board from certifying his electoral loss.

Attorneys for the state elections board had the case removed to federal court because, they argued, it raised federal questions about HAVA and other U.S. Constitutional voting rights protections.

But attorneys for Griffin disagreed and argued in their briefs to Judge E. Richard Myers II of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina that the matter at hand concerned an election for state office and unsettled questions of state, not federal, law.

Those arguments carried the day with Myers, a Donald Trump appointee, who, on Monday evening, remanded the case back to the North Carolina Supreme Court.

“Should a federal tribunal resolve such a dispute?” asked Judge Myers in his order, referring to the Griffin’s claims the disputed ballots should be invalidated.

“This court, with due regard for state sovereignty and the independence of states to decide matters of substantial public concern, thinks not,” Myers wrote, answering his own question.

The fact that North Carolina’s registration statute refers to, and aligns with, HAVA, did not sway Myers that the Griffin protests belong in federal court.

“Because Griffin’s first challenge does not require resort to HAVA,” Myers wrote in this order, referring to Griffin’s protests over allegedly incomplete voter registrations, “it does not necessarily raise a question of federal law.”

The challenges to overseas voters who never resided in North Carolina and military and overseas voters who did not provide photo IDs also only require interpretations of state law, according to Myers.

The state elections board was poised to certify the results of the election by Friday barring a court’s intervention. Judge Myers’s order could be appealed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

The general counsel for the state elections board said his office is reviewing Myers’ order.

Source link

North Carolina

Duarte girl kidnapped in 2020 at 5 years old found safe in North Carolina

Published

15 hours ago

March 11, 2026

Press Room

Duarte girl kidnapped in 2020 at 5 years old found safe in North Carolina

A girl who was kidnapped from Duarte in 2020 when she was just 5 years old has been found safe in North Carolina.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said it found Karen Rojas, who is now 11, on Tuesday. She was enrolled in school under an alias, according to investigators.

Authorities said she was kidnapped on June 2, 2020.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services notified Washington County law enforcement that she may be in the state.

They coordinated with several agencies, located the girl and took her into protective custody.

“These are very rare occurrences to have such a positive outcome on such an old case as this, but it reminds us that through hard work, and dedication, and cooperation, stories with positive outcomes like these can happen,” the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post.

Due to the age of the child, further information was not immediately available.

Source link

North Carolina

These 4 Western NC towns are among WorldAtlas favorites for 2026

Published

1 day ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

These 4 Western NC towns are among WorldAtlas favorites for 2026

A new list from WorldAtlas named the publication’s top 10 favorite North Carolina towns of 2026, including several locations located in Western North Carolina.

Founded in 1994 by cartographer John Moen and his wife, Chris Woolwine-Moen, WorldAtlas publishes educational materials and articles on geography, sociology, demography, environment, economics, politics, and travel.

Previous Citizen Times articles have covered numerous mentions of Western North Carolina from WorldAtlas, including “idyllic” and “unpretentious” towns, scenic drives, a favorite downtown area, and more. In the new list, published March 9, WorldAtlas writers chose their all-time favorite North Carolina towns ― almost half of which were located in the western region of the state.

Here’s what WorldAtlas had to say about mountain North Carolina towns, plus the full list and more.

What to do in Banner Elk, N.C.

WorldAtlas noted the range of activities offered in Banner Elk throughout the year. The town sits in the Blue Ridge Mountains between the Sugar Mountain and Beech Mountain ski resorts. Writers highlighted the following locations and activities in Banner Elk:

Wildcat Lake, which has a lifeguarded white-sand beach and is used for swimming, non-motorized boating and fishing for largemouth bass, trout, and bluegill
Grandfather Mountain Nature Museum, a museum located at Grandfather Mountain
The Mile High Swinging Bridge, the highest suspension footbridge in the United States, which visitors can cross on foot

What to do in Blowing Rock, N.C.

Also included on the WorldAtlas list, Blowing Rock takes its name from a rock formation where the wind appears to blow upward. The list highlighted the following locations and activities in Blowing Rock:

The town’s namesake, “Blowing Rock,” is a rock formation known for views of Johns River Gorge and the surrounding forest
Fishing, spelunking and rock climbing opportunities in the area
Moses H. Cone Memorial Park, also known locally as “Cone Park,” which has hiking trails and is located on the Blue Ridge Parkway
Memorial Park on Main Street, where town events and concerts often take place

What to do in Brevard, N.C.

Brevard, also known as the “Land of Waterfalls,” is home to more than 200 waterfalls located across Transylvania County. WorldAtlas highlighted the following locations and activities in Brevard:

Museums, trails, rock climbing and the surrounding area’s many waterfalls
Guided Jeep and hiking tours to view waterfalls throughout Transylvania County
Veterans History Museum of the Carolinas, a museum displaying artifacts from U.S. military conflicts
Transylvania Heritage Museum, a museum focused on local history and genealogy

What to do in Hot Springs, N.C.

Hot Springs’ name comes from the natural springs that attract visitors from across the state and region. The springs are commonly visited by hikers seeking relief after traveling along the Appalachian Trail, which runs through the town. WorldAtlas highlighted the following activities and events:

Kayaking on the French Broad River
Trailfest, a celebration of hiking typically held in April
French Broad River Festival, a celebration of the French Broad River held each year on the first weekend of May
White-water rafting and ziplining opportunities in the area
Fishing, skiing, sport shooting, golf, disc golf, biking and horseback riding opportunities throughout the area
A range of accommodations including campgrounds, privately owned cabins, apartments, suites and cottages, with options from basic to luxury experiences

WorldAtlas’s best towns in North Carolina

The full list of WorldAtlas’s favorite North Carolina towns of 2026 included:

Banner Elk
Beaufort
Blowing Rock
Brevard
Davidson
Edenton
Hot Springs
Seagrove
Manteo
Wrightsville Beach

Iris Seaton is the trending news reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at iseaton@citizentimes.com.

Source link

North Carolina

‘It was dire’: NC State professor returns from Qatar after being trapped during Iran war

Published

2 days ago

March 10, 2026

Press Room

‘It was dire’: NC State professor returns from Qatar after being trapped during Iran war

An North Carolina State University professor is back home Monday night after he was trapped in the Middle East as war with Iran broke out.

Rich Spontak was stuck in Qatar while traveling from Bangkok to Spain and was forced to stay in the country for about a week. Several travelers were trapped for days in the Middle East after Iran’s
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several defense leaders were
killed in joint strikes by the United States and Israel.

Spontak, like many travelers, found himself stranded in the Middle East after the initial attacks, which quickly entangled more surrounding countries, including Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, where seven U.S. service members were killed in retaliatory attacks from Iran.

Spontak said there were times he thought he wouldn’t make it out.

“I would just keep looking out and looking for the missiles,” Spontak said. “Some people that I met along the way were hit by shrapnel from the missles. It was dire.”

Airspace over Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait and Syria remained closed, according to flight-tracking service Flightradar24. Azerbaijan also shut the southern sector of its airspace on Thursday after accusing Iran of a drone attack that injured four civilians and damaged an airport building.

Lilia Austin, a Chapel Hill woman who was part of a group of 100 women who went to Israel for a trip the day before Khamenei was killed, also returned home on Sunday after she left Israel through Egypt.

Source link