Griffin, a Republican, has asked the North Carolina Supreme Court to force the state Board of Elections to throw out more than 60,000 votes that he claims, in part, are invalid because voters' registration applications were incomplete.

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 North Carolina Supreme Court has dismissed a request by a Republican judge for a seat on its bench, declining to decide at this time whether over 60,000 ballots should be excluded from the final tally in his bid to unseat the leading Democratic candidate,