A Wake County Superior Court judge has ruled against Republican candidate Jefferson Griffin, who is trying to invalidate more than 65,000 ballots in the race for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court.

A Wake County judge on Friday rejected election protests from Republican state Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin in his battle over 60,000 ballots.

Friday’s hearing marked the beginning of a new phase of arguments, after both sides spent months arguing over whether the case should be heard by state or federal courts.

Just hours after a hearing on Judge Jefferson Griffin’s challenge to more than 65,000 ballots in the state Supreme Court election, a state judge upheld the state election board’s rejection of those claims in a late Friday ruling.

Jefferson Griffin is attempting to have more than 60,000 votes thrown out in the state Supreme Court race he lost in November.

Tuesday’s decision means Judge Jefferson Griffin’s challenge could eventually be heard by the North Carolina Supreme Court, the very body he aims to join.

State elections officials were right to reject Jefferson Griffin’s attempts to throw out tens of thousands of North Carolina voters’ ballots from the 2024 elections, a Wake County judge ruled Friday,