A North Carolina appeals court has ruled that more than 60,000 voters who voted in the state’s Supreme Court election in November 2024 must verify that they are eligible to vote.

The ruling from the appeals court ordering “more than 65,000 voters” to prove their eligibility comes after Judge Jefferson Griffin, who ran against North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs in November, challenged the results of the election, according to NBC News.

Per the outlet, voters “now have 15 business days to provide state elections officials with the necessary proof of identity that would verify their votes,” and voters who do not respond “will not have their votes counted in the race.”

“The inclusion of even one unlawful ballot in a vote total dilutes the lawful votes and ‘effectively disenfranchises’ lawful voters,” the panel of three judges wrote. “Post-election protests protect against this risk of vote dilution by enabling candidates and voters to rigorously investigate the election process, identify and challenges unlawful ballots, and ensure those ballots are not counted.”

The ruling from the appeals court comes after a judge in Wake County rejected Griffin’s “attempt to throw out 65,000 ballots” that had been cast in the election, according to the News & Observer.

Griffin’s “legal argument centers on a claim” thousands of people who voted in the election “were ineligible to vote, mostly because they did not provide proof of identity,” through either a Social Security number or a driver’s license, according to the New York Times.