The North Carolina Supreme Court has dismissed a request by a Republican judge for a seat on its bench, declining to decide at this time whether over 60,000 ballots should be excluded from the final tally in his bid to unseat the leading Democratic candidate,

The N.C. Supreme Court is weighing whether to toss out more than 60,000 ballots cast in the race for a seat on that tribunal. That race is the last uncertified statewide contest in the nation.

A political war has erupted over a state Supreme Court race in North Carolina more than two months after Democrats appeared to narrowly clinch the seat. Justice Allison Riggs, the Democratic incumbent,