A controversial ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II has ignited a firestorm of protest, with United Sovereign Americans (USA) accusing the judge of disenfranchising North Carolina voters by ordering the certification of Democratic Justice Allison Riggs in the state’s 2024 Supreme Court election.
The dispute centers on tens of thousands of ballots cast by voters with unverified identities. Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin, who narrowly lost the election by 734 votes, had sought to disqualify over 60,000 ballots lacking either a Social Security number or a North Carolina driver’s license, as mandated by state law. However, on May 5, 2025, Judge Myers ruled against Griffin’s request, leading to the certification of Riggs’ victory.
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“Do we still have a Republic where legitimate American voters choose their representatives?” questioned Marly Hornik, CEO of USA. “By certifying 60,000 invalid ballots as equal to valid ballots, he is overriding state law and disenfranchising the 2.7 million citizens whose candidate ‘lost.’”
USA argues that Judge Myers’ decision, which cited the potential for “confusion and turmoil” if the election results were altered post-election, fundamentally ignores the initial violation of state election laws. “The rules weren’t followed in the first place,” stated USA Chairman Harry Haury. “What’s the point in having laws if we ignore them because they inconvenience bureaucrats?”
The organization further asserts that the North Carolina Board of Elections (BOE) was aware of the issue prior to the election. USA claims to have filed a suspicious activity report on June 3, 2024, detailing over 1.1 million materially deficient voter registrations, including 429,725 records lacking SSNs or driver’s license information.
Despite this, USA says they received no response from BOE director Karen Brinson Bell, and subsequently filed a lawsuit in August 2024.
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While Judge Myers acknowledged that election officials were responsible for the irregularities, USA contends that his remedy—certifying the contested ballots—fails to uphold the integrity of the electoral process.
“Certifying tainted results violates the civil rights of all voters who registered and voted lawfully,” Hornik stated.
USA also raised concerns about the impact of the contested ballots on other races included on the same ballot, including U.S. Congressional seats. “Why is the solution to a screwed-up election, impacting every American citizen, to kick the can?” asked Haury.
The organization, which describes itself as a non-partisan civic group, emphasizes the importance of upholding legitimate representative government through legally valid elections.
“We don’t get to break the law, then say it’s too late to fix it,” Hornik concluded. “Especially not in something as sacred as the vote.”
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