Republicans are trying to steal a seat on swing state's top court

A Republican judge in North Carolina who lost a race for a seat on the state Supreme Court is seeking to overturn his defeat by throwing out 60,000 ballots cast in the election—mostly from Black and Democratic voters, according to a report published Tuesday in the Charlotte Observer.

The judge, Jefferson Griffin, lost to incumbent Justice Allison Riggs by 734 votes in November. A recount affirmed Riggs’ victory.

But Griffin filed a protest with the State Board of Elections seeking to toss 60,000 ballots cast in the race, claiming those votes came from voters who did not list Social Security or driver's license numbers on their voter registration forms.

The North Carolina Republican Party and the Republican National Committee made the same claim in the fall to try to purge 225,000 voters from the rolls in the state. But both the State Board of Elections and a federal judge ruled against the GOP in that case.

The North Carolina Democratic Party held a news conference Tuesday morning in which they called on Griffin to drop his challenge and concede.