A federal judge has ordered an end to efforts by a conservative candidate for the North Carolina State Supreme Court to invalidate thousands of voters’ ballots in last year’s election, saying that his liberal opponent must be certified the winner of their race.

Conservative Judge Jefferson Griffin lost to incumbent Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs in the statewide contest by just 734 votes. Griffin sought to invalidate the election outcome through various methods, including arguing that military and overseas absentee ballots, which do not require photo identification to cast, were illegal and thus should be discounted.

Griffin himself utilized military absentee ballots in both the 2019 and 2020 election cycles.

The case is novel because it seeks to allow a candidate to essentially change the rules of voting after an election takes place, requiring voters to prove themselves legitimate following a complaint over their voting method. Griffin had initially tried to disenfranchise around 65,000 voters.

Judge Richard Myers of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, a Trump appointee, ruled against Griffin’s........

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