Three counts found an incumbent Democrat won a State Supreme Court race. But the Republican candidate is trying to nullify more than 60,000 votes.

The Federal Court of Appeals ruled on Tuesday that the fight over North Carolina’s Supreme Court race will remain in state court.

An appeals court agreed Tuesday that a federal trial judge acted properly last month in declining to rule on the eligibility of tens of thousands of voters last fall in an unresolved North Carolina Supreme Court election and returning the matter to state court.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that North Carolina's disputed race for a seat on the state Supreme Court must be reviewed in state courts before the matter can go before a federal tribunal.

The 2024 race for a North Carolina Supreme Court seat remains the last vote from the election to not be settled. Here's what to know.

In a win for Judge Jefferson Griffin, his challenge to North Carolina Supreme Court seat race will remain in state court, with a federal court retaining jurisdiction of several federal issues, should they remain after state court proceedings are resolved.

The North Carolina Supreme Court has dismissed a request by the trailing candidate in an close race for a seat on the court to rule now on whether well over 60,000 ballots should be removed from the tally.

Republican Jefferson Griffin is trying to overturn his election loss by asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to toss 5,500 military and overseas absentee ballots. He used the same method to vote in 2019 and 2020.

In this moment of crisis, the courts have become the final guardrail against the forces of authoritarianism that seek to undermine the will of the voters.

The N.C. Supreme Court is weighing whether to toss out more than 60,000 ballots cast in the race for a seat on that tribunal. That race is the last uncertified statewide contest in the nation.