North Carolina’s top court cleared the way for some voters’ ballots in a contested state Supreme Court race to be tossed months after the election, opening a path for Republican Jefferson Griffin to potentially overturn an apparent narrow loss.

The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled on Friday that more than 60,000 ballots cast in November by voters in a close race for a seat on the state's high court could be counted, but it left open the possibility of discounting thousands of others.