Military and overseas voters at center of challenges in Riggs-Griffin NC Supreme Court race

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Almost six months later, and the North Carolina Supreme Court Race is still the only uncertificated race left in the country from 2024.

While multiple recounts confirmed Democrat Allison Riggs' 734-vote win, Republican Jefferson Griffin's ongoing challenges are now narrowing to a smaller pool of military and overseas voters.

Saturday morning, Riggs was speaking at the Lee County Democratic Convention in Sanford. Both thanking supporters and acknowledging she still has a fight ahead to maintain her narrow win over Griffin and make sure every vote counts.

"From my perspective, it doesn't matter if it's one voter, 6,000 voters, or 68,000 voters; every vote cast by an eligible voter should be counted, and I will not give one inch," she said.

Riggs scored a partial win when the Supreme Court ruled the bulk of voters challenged by Griffin, who showed IDs, would have their votes count.

But a smaller number of military and overseas voters are still being called into question.

New ads are running calling out the Griffin campaign's tactics, arguing military voters were exempt from the ID law, and federal laws have made it easier for those serving our country to cast ballots back home.

"It's of utmost importance that as we move forward. That we make it as easy as possible for our servicemembers who are serving overseas to have their voices heard and participate in the election process that they are wearing the uniform to defend," said U.S. Air Force Veteran Anil Nathan, co-founder of We The Veterans.

ALSO SEE: Justice Riggs rallies voters amid unresolved state Supreme Court race: 'I will not back down'

It's a message echoed by former GOP Governor Pat McCrory, who admits he actually voted for Griffin himself.

"I wanted the Republican judge to win because his philosophy more aligns with me. But in order to take the seat, you've got to earn the seat and win the seat. And in this case, he was defeated," McCrory said.

McCrory says as someone no stranger to a narrow election loss, this would set a dangerous precedent.

"You abide by the rules before the election. It's like changing a penalty call after the Super Bowl is over. You don't do that. And the military personnel, I think, are special. And that's why an exception was made for ID, that we trusted the military to do what's right. And they voted based upon the rule set," he said.

But other Republicans, including Griffin, still show no signs of backing down. The NCGOP told our Raleigh sister station, ABC11, in a statement on Saturday, "It's no surprise far far-left Democrats are once again lying to North Carolinians and covering up for the partisan State Board of Elections' failure to follow state law. The people of our state put Voter ID in the State Constitution; that's the issue at play here. Judge Griffin himself served in a uniform a week before Election Day. There is no one who takes the oath more seriously."

Riggs is still likely to take the case to federal court to ensure every remaining challenged vote counts.

The video in the player above is from a previous report.