‘An existential threat to democracy’: the US judge facing a challenge to her election victory

Allison Riggs won in November - but a court ruling has put ballots in North Carolina under threat. The stakes are high

Allison Riggs, a Democratic justice on the North Carolina supreme court, is battling to keep her seat after a recent court ruling paved the way to overturn her election victory, telling the Guardian in an interview: This is not just a North Carolina problem. This is an existential threat to democracy."

In November, Riggs won an election for the state supreme court by a razor-thin 734 votes. But on Friday, the North Carolina supreme court ordered the state board of elections to give certain overseas voters 30 days to prove their eligibility in order to have the votes they cast more than five months ago count.