North Carolina’s Supreme Court has ruled that tens of thousands of cast ballots challenged by the trailing candidate in November’s election for a seat on the court must remain in the election count.

Republican Judge Jefferson Griffin is challenging some 65,000 votes in his bid to overturn his opponent’s narrow win.

Democratic Justice Allison Riggs won her November election by 734 votes, but the court put into play enough votes to possibly hand the seat to her Republican challenger.