Protesters speak outside courthouse in Raleigh about ongoing NC Supreme Court race

Alright we're gonna get started in just a second

2025-02-07

Thank you all

My name is Brittany Cheatham

I'm gonna turn it over to Anne Webb who's gonna

MC this afternoon

We'll hear from some voters who have had their votes

challenged um in this case and then we'll also hear

from representatives with the North Carolina NAACP

North Carolina Black Alliance and Common Cause North Carolina

So we're gonna give folks a second to kind of

file in

Yes yes yes please

Y'all hear that when you come to the podium to

speak please say your name clearly and and spell it

for us

I had one person Felix Soto after all

Good afternoon folks

My name is Anne Webb

I'm the policy director with Common Cause North Carolina

I'm just going to be emceeing this press conference here

I want to thank everyone for covering this incredibly important

issue and just highlight very briefly that this is

This is the case that Trump would have brought if

he hadn't quite won in North Carolina and that is

a national story

This is important for all of us to be following

and it has implications not only for North Carolina all

of North Carolina's voters but voters all across the country

So thank you for covering this

I'm going to start by introducing the illustrious president of

the North Carolina NAACP Deborah Dix Maxwell

Good morning

We really shouldn't be here

This should have been decided already

It shouldn't have been biased against people who are overseas

of color who early voted and did other things

We should not be here

When you lose one should accept defeat graciously and not

try to circumvent and use every which way to change

the scope that over 700 people through

The North Carolina Board of Elections gave Judge Allison Riggs

the victory

We should not be here

Judge Griffin should not rest on the laurels of trying

to circumvent minority voters

They should not have used a group QR code a

group QR code

There are a lot of people who don't know how

to use them and I myself personally have a problem

sometimes trying to get into it but that was a

method of which you had to report

So as I say again we should not be here

we will determine to make sure through the North Carolina

NACP that we will not be here again because we

do not support voter suppression or oppression of any kind

way shape or form so we stand firmly

That those votes should count

Judge Riggs should be instated and if this continues we

will continue to be back and we will fight because

everyone votes count

everyone votes matter and those votes decided that she was

the winner

Thank you

Next we're going to hear from Marcus Bass deputy director

of North Carolina Black Alliance

Thank you very much and thank you to the individuals

that are assembled here today

I want to make sure that folks are very aware

Uh first of all my name is Marcus Bass

I served as deputy director of the North Carolina Black

Alliance

I have been out here since before the trial began

the hearing began and there are individuals behind me that

were denied access to the courtroom when we talk about

60,000 voters that is a very big situation and it's

not just the 60,000 individuals that are impacted

It is 11 million residents

The state who are being denied democracy right now and

to see individuals that got up at 8 o'clock this

morning to be here and were denied access plaintiffs that

were not allowed to come in is shameful

I think one thing that is very clear is that

there's a lack of transparency in the way the election

is being handled in this moment

60,000 individuals rightfully cast a vote

Their registration was affirmed by the process in this state

They were

Casting a vote in November and now here we are

4 months later and Judge Griffin is trying to say

that their vote should not count

That is unfair

President Maxwell said voter suppression and I want to make

sure everyone understands this is not about individuals fraudulently voting

This is about an individual trying to undermine the electoral

process of democracy in North Carolina

The right to vote is a right to vote

Somebody should say that

The right to vote is a right to vote

And in this moment denying eligible voters the right to

vote is not

What the courts should be hearing in this moment

There are serious decisions that the Supreme Court should be

hearing and has heard over the past decade but now

we see partisanship inching closer and closer into our democracy

and the acts that we're hearing today in the hearing

and the consideration for disenfranchising 60,000 voters is something that

should not happen in this court

It should not happen in this state

It should not be supported by this legislature and we

are asking the judge to seriously take

Consideration and allow the voters of North Carolina's decision to

stand and keep Allison Riggs as a Supreme Court justice

The last thing I'll say is as I pass the

conversation off that gathered behind me are individuals that are

not Democrat interested are not Republican interested

They are interested in the will of the people being

cast in a decision called a vote in a process

called democracy that should be upheld by the courts today

And so the hearing room did not make room for

the millions of individuals that should be paying attention

So we have had this press conference to hear from

the individuals that have been inside of this courtroom from

the individuals that have been hearing this court case and

talking about enfranchising voters and in this moment of an

attempt to disenfranchise not just 60,000 voters but 11 million

residents across the state the citizens of North Carolina the

people are saying not on our watch

Thank you very much

No

OK we're going to hear from Jimmy Patel communications director

with North Carolina Asian Americans Together and after him we'll

start hearing from affected voters

Good afternoon

Uh I'm Jimmy Patel Winn communications director at North Carolina

Asian Americans Together and I'll just get straight to it

Judge Griffin wants to throw out 60,000 votes just because

the results didn't go his way

And he's mostly targeting black brown and Asian voters

That's not election integrity that's voter suppression

Asian American voters in North Carolina we turned out in

record numbers this year

We did everything right

We registered we followed the law and we cast our

ballots and yet Judge Griffin's challenge targets Asian voters at

nearly 3 times the rate of white voters

That's not a case of someone being a bureaucratic stickler

That's an attack on our right to vote

It's a direct attempt to intimidate our communities and to

make us question whether our votes will ever truly count

but let me be clear they count

Every single one of these 60,000 votes is legal

This election was counted recounted and confirmed twice

Judge Griffin lost

He can't change the rules after the game is over

We've seen this playbook before moving the goalposts and sowing

distrust or doubt and trying to silence voters of color

but we refuse to let that happen

Asian Americans are the fastest growing voting block in North

Carolina and we're using our voices

We're making our votes count

We stand in solidarity with every North Carolinian whose votes

are being challenged and we will not let bad faith

actors decide which votes count and which don't

The voters have spoken

The recount confirmed it and it's time to respect the

results and certify this election and move forward

The court's got to reject Judge Griffin's blatant attempt to

erase voters from our democracy

Thank you

Yeah

OK next we're going to hear from Denise Carmen who

was one of the voters who filed an affidavit with

the amicus brief on behalf of voters

Thank you

And she yes I will

Yes as she said my name is Denise Carman D

E N I S E C A R M A

N

Pardon me I am not the polished public speaker that

the folks who have preceded me are but this is

important to me so

You

I have been registered to vote in North Carolina for

over 20 years

I have been a registered voter for over 40 years

I am an elections official in Chatham County North Carolina

I help people vote

I make sure that the elections are run smoothly and

cleanly in that county and I'm proud of that work

I feel strongly that the way that this entire situation

has been handled is not in the intent or the

understanding of the laws as they are

I was not made aware that I was not that

I was on this list by any of the means

that have been discussed today

A friend of mine let me know I was on

the list

That's the only way I found out

It's only through the efforts of these organizations that are

here with us today that I have had an effective

way to use my voice and to say that I

am legally registered to vote and everything in the state

of North Carolina says that I am a legal voter

And there's nothing that should challenge my vote in this

election

Right

As you can see voters are affected by this threat

to their right to vote

And next we're going to hear from Rachel Arnold who

also filed an affidavit with the amicus brief

Thank you

Hi my name is Rachel Arnold R A C H

E L A R N O L D

I'm a registered voter in Guilford County

I have lived at the same address since 2009 when

I moved to the state

I've been a registered voter in three states and never

had a problem until now

I did pull my voter registration application from the from

the county Board of Elections office and every piece of

information that Justice Griffin has decided needs to be included

on those is included

My driver's license is there

My date of birth is there

My address is there

I showed my voter ID when I went to vote

and apparently my mistake this year was using the laws

afforded to me to vote early

This is absolutely an attempt to steal the right of

people to act in their best interests

And no one should be turning a blind eye to

this

Because at any moment it could be your vote your

candidate your values that are on the line

Thank you all for being here

Thank you

Next we're gonna hear from Mary Kay Helling

Right here right here

Hi I'm Mary Kay Hayling uh M A R Y

K A Y H E L I N G

9 years ago we moved back to North Carolina and

one of the first things we did was register to

vote

I voted

For 9 years no issues

So this year

After we voted early and I am an unaffiliated voter

just so you know um

This year about I don't know a while after the

election I got that little card in the mail

Now my husband and I registered together

He didn't get one but I got one couldn't figure

it out

I didn't know what I should do but I thought

OK I'm gonna scan this QR code and I spent

a long time trying to navigate this

Sites I looked and looked and looked and you know

you may be on this list

Well I couldn't find my name so I threw it

out and said huh I'm clear

And then common cause I saw online

A website they had that you could put your name

in

Bingo it pops up

Yes I'm on that list

Now why couldn't I find it through the card that

I was given

Um anyways I I went to the board of uh

the board of elections and mine is a clerical error

Though I voted for 9 years fine I I voted

early

I showed my driver's license

I don't understand why he wants to take my vote

And that's all I can say is I want my

vote to matter

Thank you

All right we have 2 more voters this afternoon

We have Audrey

Good afternoon

My name is Audrey Meigs that's A U D R

E Y M E I G S

I serve as the senior policy and advocacy coordinator at

North Carolina Asian Americans Together

I grew up in North Carolina

I was raised in Asheville and studied political science at

Davidson College

I now work in Raleigh at an organization that works

to uplift Asian American voices in our state

I'm on the grounds getting people registered to vote

I've advocated on Capitol Hill for educational access and I

plan to spend the rest of my career empowering communities

and promoting justice for all

Despite my whole life being rooted in North Carolina and

my dedication to serving my communities Jefferson Griffin is trying

to throw my vote away and it's not just my

vote

He's trying to throw away tens of thousands of votes

just like mine

I want to highlight for a moment how this is

impacting the Asian American community here in North Carolina

This year more Asian Americans voted in our state than

ever before

As an Asian American myself and as part of an

organization that serves our population I'm very proud of our

community's growing voice

And as our community continues to grow so does its

potential impact

And that's why it's so critical to speak up against

attempts like these to undermine our democracy

Earlier this month our organization called over 14 1400 Asian

Americans whose votes have been challenged in this race

We wanted to ensure that they were aware of the

situation and know how they can protect their vote in

future elections despite not having done anything wrong in the

first place

I'm tired of candidates using my vote as a pawn

in their political game and entertaining these baseless claims

The API community turned out in record numbers for this

election and Judge Griffin is attempting to cut those numbers

down

I and so many other organizers did the work to

bring those record numbers to the polls and certain politicians

want to throw that work away

So again on behalf of myself and the many Asian

American voters affected the thousands of other North Carolinians who

Judge Griffin is attempting to disenfranchise I'm calling on him

to respect the recount that reaffirmed Justice Riggs' victory and

on the North Carolina Supreme Court to respect the will

of the voters

Regardless of party or ethnicity or backgrounds each and every

one of the voters affected by the shameless power grab

deserves to have our voices heard

Thank you

OK we have one more voter um Felix Soto who's

gonna share their story

Hello my name is Felix Soto

That is F E L I X S O T

O

I'm 18 years old and I'm an unaffiliated voter

18 this is my first general election

I was ecstatic

You all should have seen me during the primaries

I was literally jumping for joy outside of my uh

voting precinct

It was uh my mother was quite amused with my

antics

Um so there I am one of two voters whose

affidavit is featured in the amicus brief that voted from

overseas

I voted from Costa Rica because I received a fellowship

position with uh University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

go heels um

Where they give me a stipend I defer my enrollment

for a year so I'll be starting as a freshman

in the fall

Um on the condition that I complete at least 6

months of service from when I defer to when I

have to come back for freshman orientation

Uh I worked at a small animal vet in Costa

Rica for 3 months

It was it was quite nice

Uh I didn't know Chihuahuas got that small

Um and I decide and I

So excited to vote wanted to vote

And so I got a ballot sent to me

I filled it out scanned it emailed it into the

Guilford County Board of Elections and fun fact I sent

in a copy of my passport because even though I

scoured the entire you know board of Elections requirements and

saw there's nothing that said I need to submit a

photo ID I was like better safe than sorry

And so I submitted that and then the election worker

said actually you don't have to submit that

It's not required

I was like OK cool

I didn't have to resubmit my ballot because of a

clerical error

I thought OK this is great

I get to spend the rest of my time in

Costa Rica come back home for the holidays

And then my mom hits me with the news so

you're you're on a list and I was like

Which which list CIA like TSA goodness uh

Uh but it was the list of uh protested uh

ballots that Judge Griffin sent out and that

To be serious that was a slap in the face

because I worked so so hard to get my ballot

in with all the different back and forth multiple calls

email ping pong

And my parents worked so hard to they're so proud

of me that I am a voter that I worked

have my voice heard and this entire kerfuffle is an

affront to all that I have worked for that my

parents have raised me to be a good person and

to participate in our democracy so

I can only hope that people realize that the you

know the 60,000 that's a scary number but every every

one of us is a singular person that wanted our

voices heard and that's currently being denied

Thank you

All right while I wait for Hillary Klein to come

down here and share um I'm just I'm just gonna

share very briefly um there are a lot of voters

60,000 65 many more 1000 voters across North Carolina who

might have questions about what they can do if they're

on the list and what they

Should do um and one thing I want to let

folks know is that Common Cause North Carolina and dozens

of our partners across the state are organizing rallies all

across North Carolina starting next weekend the 15th to the

17th including a rally here in Raleigh at the state

Capitol at noon on Monday the 17th um

These are places for people who are affected by this

to come together and speak out but we also encourage

folks to go to our website ccNc.me/griffin CNC./griffin

That is where you can find a link to look

and see if you are on the list

It's an opportunity to get suggestions for how you can

speak out online

Reaching out to local media telling other folks that you're

on the list and how you feel about it and

you can also get information about how to reach out

to your county board of elections to see if there's

anything you can do to make sure that your vote

counts

So I want to really encourage folks to go there

and I'm going to pass it now to Hillary Klein

from Southern Coalition for Social Justice who's going to talk

a little bit about what to expect next in the

legal framework here and then we'll take questions

Good afternoon everyone

Hillary Klein with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice

I am very privileged to have represented 26 of the

impacted voters as well as 7 nonpartisan organizations that are

fighting back against this attack on our elections

Elections are for the voters to choose their leaders not

for the leaders to later pick and choose their voters

This is Absolutely required for us to have election integrity

and for us to have secure elections that it is

our voters who are picking our leaders

The court heard today a host of reasons many independent

ways and reasons that these election protests should be dismissed

They should be dismissed immediately

I think we can expect a court decision

In the next week or coming weeks the court indicated

it would rule swiftly on this

Unfortunately after that I think we can also expect appeals

and I think we can also expect this to go

all the way up again

I will note that the federal courts

have noted that there are federal interests and federal claims

at issue and they have reserved jurisdiction so it's possible

this will also go further and we will see proceedings

in the federal courts as well but what is absolutely

crucial

is that our courts step in and do their job

to protect the voters of this state

That is why they are in office

That is why they have the power to decide things

that they have and we are imploring the courts to

step in and protect not just the impacted voters who

are able to step up in this litigation and provide

affidavits but all 65,000 voters and all of the voters

of this state

Who are provided the right to dictate who sits in

those seats of powers

Because it is the voters and the will of the

voters that must dictate our future

And not leaders picking the voters instead

Thank you

OK I'm happy to facilitate questions especially if you can

let me know who you'd like to direct your question

to

All right going oh somebody give us a general update

about what happened inside

Hi everyone

Uh my name is Pat Robles uh R O B

L E Z uh and I am senior voting rights

counsel at for Justice so we represented um our clients

today along with Hillary

We heard arguments from both sides on all of the

protests that were filed

Obviously our position is that all of these people as

Judge Riggs' lawyers and the state board lawyers argued registered

lawfully

We believe that they did everything they needed to do

and one argument that was made inside today that I

want to reemphasize is that this is unprecedented

You may feel like you hear a lot about protests

This is not the normal kind of protests

We've had 400 vote margins

You asked for the recount you accept what happens after

that

So what happened in court today is not normal

This is not a normal protest

This is not a hearing we normally have

This is something entirely new

These are mass challenges

Essentially the argument from Griffin's lawyers is that they are

simply asking for the rules that were in place at

the time to be applied

We believe that what they are asking for is a

the rules after the election

We heard from voters including people who work at the

boards of election that they followed every rule

They were never told that there was any problem and

a lot of them followed up and said here's a

document that proves that you did everything right

So that's what was discussed in there today

I think as Hillary already said there's no decision from

the bench you know they need to consider everything and

let us know what the next decision is going to

be

Any other questions Yeah

State this did work its way all the way up

to the state of the state Supreme Court and they

found in his favor

I know the federal courts have reserved jurisdiction over the

federal issues

At that point would you expect the federal court to

issue some sort of stay of the state Supreme Court's

order and then say like no certification of the election

will happen until we take out this matter I would

anticipate the parties to request that

Um But there are so many different ways that this

could go

It's very hard to predict at this point but I

would expect the parties to request if they want federal

court review to put any order that the state court

has issued on hold

All right

Any other questions before we wrap up If there's no

questions I have like a short personal privilege which I

just want to highlight Latino voters was a really really

tough year for Latino voters

I think anyone who worked in the cycle knows that

they were targeted so much more than they ever have

been a lot of false claims about people being not

citizens and we saw Latino voters 4 times more likely

to be on this list than a white

After everything else they went through after they followed every

rule after they showed up after being intimidated so I

just want to lift that up to say how fundamentally

unfair this is for everyone and as everyone has said

it disproportionately affects black brown Latino and AAPI voters who

are already the ones being attacked by everything else and

they already jumped over every hurdle that's been put in

front of them

And this is just a slap in the face and

I just want to uplift that community as well while

we're here today

All right

Thanks everyone for being here

Um feel free to contact folks here in the crowd