He was born in North Carolina. Republicans say he’s a ‘never resident’ and want to throw out his vote

Nearly six months after he voted in the 2024 election, North Carolinian Josiah Young still isn’t sure if his ballot will be counted in a high-stakes race for a state Supreme Court seat.

Nearly six months after he voted in the 2024 election, North Carolinian Josiah Young still isn’t sure if his ballot will be counted in a high-stakes race for a state Supreme Court seat. Born and raised in western North Carolina, the 20-year-old college student studied abroad in Spain last semester, so he cast his ballot using an online portal for military and overseas voters. It was his first major general election, and, as far as he knew, everything went well. But in January, one of his father’s colleagues alerted Young that his vote in the key race was at risk of being thrown out in a still-ongoing GOP effort to reverse the unofficial results, which showed the Democratic incumbent had defeated her Republican challenger. Young is one of thousands of overseas voters whose ballots are in limbo due to an unprecedented election challenge launched by Judge Jefferson Griffin, the Republican who is seeking to unseat Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs and who won 734 votes fewer than she did after two recounts of the race last year. Young was identified as a so-called “Never Resident” by Griffin, who is contesting the eligibility of overseas voters who have never lived in North Carolina but, under state law, are allowed to vote there because of parental ties to the state. Regardless of the merits of Griffin’s arguments, Young’s presence on the list appears to be an error that could lead to his disenfranchisement. When filling out the federal form overseas Americans can use to register to vote and request an absentee ballot, he told CNN it is possible he mistakenly checked a box which states, “I am a U.S. citizen living outside the country, I have never lived in the United States.” Records obtained by CNN show Young did, in fact, check the box on the form, which is known as the Federal Post Card Application. There is other registration data which proves that his selection of that box was incorrect. In the weeks after he submitted the form, multiple state courts affirmed a North Carolina law allowing overseas Americans who never lived in the state to still vote there if a parent had resided there.