The legal dispute over an uncertified race for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court goes before a panel of the state Court of Appeals on Friday.
On Thursday, a small group of military veterans gathered in Raleigh to oppose Republican Jefferson Griffin's bid to toss 65,000 ballots out of his race against Democrat Allison Riggs, an incumbent justice on the high court.
Griffin trails Riggs by 734 votes as confirmed by two recounts. He wants the ballots tossed over alleged irregularities.
More than 5,000 of those ballots were cast by military and overseas voters who didn't provide photo ID. But state law exempts them from doing so.
Griffin appealed after a lower court upheld the state elections board's dismissal of his ballot protests.