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.

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.