The Republican-dominated North Carolina Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the state's elections board from certifying the results of an election to fill a seat on the court currently occupied by the leading Democratic candidate,

The ultimate winner gets an eight-year term on a Supreme Court where five of the seven current justices are registered Republicans.

Three counts show an incumbent Democrat won election to the State Supreme Court. But an unusual protest by the G.O.P. challenger could be headed to that same Republican-controlled court.

Republican Jefferson Griffin lost by 734 votes, but he has contested the eligibility of 60,000 ballots cast in the election.

The move gives the court time to consider a challenge by Republican Jefferson Griffin, who has cited debunked legal theories in his previous failed attempts to block Justice Allison Riggs’ reelection.

The North Carolina Supreme Court blocked state officials from certifying the Democratic candidate as the winner of a razor-thin race for the state’s high court.

One of the high court's conservative justices dissented from an order blocking certification of an election in which a Democratic incumbent justice leads a GOP challenger

The North Carolina Supreme Court voted to block the certification of Democratic Justice Allison Riggs as the winner of her state Supreme Court race while her GOP opponent challenges the legitimacy

Republican North Carolina Supreme Court candidate Jefferson Griffin is trying to convince a federal district court judge that a legal battle over his disputed race belongs in state court.

Justice Allison Riggs (D) eked out a 734-vote victory over Jefferson Griffin. but the Republican challenged about 60,000 ballots cast by voters who have not provided election officials with their driver’s license number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.