Ballots from Helene-damaged areas are among the 65,000 that Republicans want to throw out in North Carolina

The GOP is trying to overturn a closely watched North Carolina Supreme Court election where two recounts show Democratic Justice Allison Riggs holding on to her seat.

Critics warn that if the gambit is successful, it will set a new standard for throwing out elections based on technicalities that are no fault of the voters.

North Carolina Supreme Court declines to rule on Griffin ’s challenges directly, instead sending case to lower state courts to consider first .

Griffin wants to challenge 5,509 overseas ballots he claims are invalid because the voters did not provide copies of their photo ID.

The next category of ballots are those of overseas voters who never lived in North Carolina but have the right to vote in the state under North Carolina law.

Democratic Justice Anita Earls warned in a partial dissent Wednesday that by keeping the certification on hold, the state supreme court may have opened a “ Pandora ’s box.” “If any losing candidate can make any sort of argument about votes in the election, no matter how frivolous, and automatically receive a court-ordered stay on appeal, preventing the winning candidate from being certified, nothing stops litigious losers from preventing duly elected persons from taking office for months or longer,” she wrote. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com .