Three counts show an incumbent Democrat won election to the State Supreme Court. But an unusual protest by the G.O.P. challenger could be headed to that same Republican-controlled court.

The Republican-dominated North Carolina Supreme Court on Tuesday blocked the state's elections board from certifying the results of an election to fill a seat on the court currently occupied by the leading Democratic candidate,

North Carolina's highest court blocked on Tuesday the certification of a November election result for one of its own seats so it can review legal arguments by a trailing candidate who contends over 60,