A North Carolina trial judge on Friday upheld decisions by election officials to reject protests by the trailing candidate in a very close state Supreme Court election who wants tens of thousands of contested ballots removed from the race tallies.

Three counts found an incumbent Democrat won a State Supreme Court race. But the Republican candidate is trying to nullify more than 60,000 votes.

Friday’s hearing marked the beginning of a new phase of arguments, after both sides spent months arguing over whether the case should be heard by state or federal courts.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that North Carolina's disputed race for a seat on the state Supreme Court must be reviewed in state courts before the matter can go before a federal tribunal.

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — An appeals court agreed Tuesday that a federal trial judge acted properly last month in declining to rule on the eligibility of tens of thousands of voters last fall in an unresolved North Carolina Supreme Court election and return it to state court.