Bins full of absentee ballots await Wake County Board of Elections review. (Photo: Lynn Bonner)

This story has been updated.

Appeals Court Judge Jefferson Griffin on Monday sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections over the vote counting process in the Supreme Court race in which he is the Republican nominee.

Griffin’s suit claims the elections board isn’t providing data quickly enough for him to request a recount prior to the Tuesday, November 19 deadline for counties that have completed their canvass. Many, but not all of North Carolina’s 100 counties have completed the canvas process at the time of filing the lawsuit on Monday, though they are expected to finish by the end of the day.

It’s one of the closest contests in the general election.

Griffin held a narrow lead of less than 10,000 votes over incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs on election night. Since then, Riggs has crept ahead with results from additional provisional and absentee ballots.

The two candidates were separated by a margin of 24 votes at the time of filing the lawsuit, according to the document. The State Board of Elections website reported a margin of 70 votes in Riggs’ favor out of more than 5.5. million cast as of 4:00 pm. Monday.

“Defendants’ failures have impeded Plaintiffs’ efforts to meaningfully examine the 2024 General Election processes and unlawfully interfered with Plaintiffs’ ability to evaluate the potential need to file any protests in relation to the 2024 General Election,” the document read.

Griffin is represented by Philip Thomas of Chalmers, Adams, Backer & Kaufman, PLLC.

Thomas is the chair of the North Carolina Chapter of the Republican National Lawyers Association and serves on their national Board of Governors. He previously served as chief counsel for the North Carolina Republican Party.

Griffin’s counsel sent a formal request to the elections board to emphasize the need for readily available data on Saturday, but did not receive complete records, according to the lawsuit.

Thomas asked for the records by 7 a.m. Monday morning after sending the request over the weekend. The state elections board provided the records later in the day, after informing the lawyers that the records would be provided on Monday.

“In sum, this lawsuit is thoroughly unnecessary,” elections board spokesperson Patrick Gannon said in a statement.