The North Carolina State Board of Elections on Friday voted to dismiss the remaining protests in the closely contested race between Republican Jefferson Griffin and Democrat Allison Riggs. With 292 ballots in question and a margin of just 734 votes between the candidates, the board’s decision moves the process forward but did not issue a certificate of election immediately.

Griffin had filed the protests after Election Day, claiming issues with the vote count. However, the board ruled that the protests reviewed by county boards were not outcome-determinative. Despite objections from Republican board members Kevin Lewis and Stacy Eggers, who called for individual votes on each protest, the majority voted to dismiss the motions as proposed by Democratic members of the board.

Colin Loftin, spokesman for the board, stated that a written decision would likely be issued on Monday, at which point the certificate of election will be issued unless any candidate files for a stay within 13 days of the written decision. As the litigation regarding the race continues, Griffin’s path now leads through the courts for any further challenges, as state board actions will depend on court rulings.

The race between Griffin and Riggs has been closely watched. On Election Night, Griffin initially led by 9,851 votes, but the final count, including provisional and absentee ballots, swung the result in favor of Riggs by 734 votes.

In other races, similar protests were also dismissed, with Democrats Bryan Cohn, Woodson Bradley, and Terence Everitt securing victories in their respective districts.