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.

Most elections are decided at the ballot box. This one may be decided in court - by the very justices who will sit alongside whoever is ultimately declared the winner.

The North Carolina Supreme Court has dismissed a request by the trailing candidate in an close race for a seat on the court to rule now on whether well over 60,000 ballots should be removed from the tally.

In a blow to Jefferson Griffin, the Republican candidate for a seat on the state Supreme Court, that court has ordered that it won't fast-track his effort to throw