Tuesday’s decision means Judge Jefferson Griffin’s challenge could eventually be heard by the North Carolina Supreme Court, the very body he aims to join.

An appeals court has agreed that a federal trial judge acted properly last month in declining to rule on the eligibility of voters in an unresolved North Carolina Supreme Court election.

In a win for Judge Jefferson Griffin, his challenge to North Carolina Supreme Court seat race will remain in state court, with a federal court retaining jurisdiction of several federal issues, should they remain after state court proceedings are resolved.

A Wake County Superior Court judge on Friday rejected Republican Jefferson Griffin’s attempt to throw out 65,000 ballots cast in November’s Supreme Court election.

A North Carolina trial judge on Friday upheld decisions by election officials to reject protests by the trailing candidate in a very close state Supreme Court election who wants tens of thousands of contested ballots removed from the race tallies.