EDITORIAL: The GOP turncoat, the  NC Supreme Court and downballot dropoff

The votes are in — most of them! But still a few very close races linger in the “unsettled” category, including state Rep. Tricia Cotham’s contest against Democrat challenger Nicole Sidman. Cotham’s up by 216 votes right now — final tallies should be in by end of day Tuesday — and I’m sure she’s asking herself if it all was worth it: her defection to the Republican Party, her betrayal of her voters in District 105, the abandonment of the pro-choice stance that got her elected, the besmirching of her own (fairly) good name in the pursuit of… what? Glory? No, she will never be fully embraced by the NC GOP, as evidenced by her struggles in the “safe” district they cut for her, which Civitas ranked as R+2. 

The biggest and most important race yet to be decided is the North Carolina Supreme Court associate justice race, one for the ages between incumbent Democrat Allison Riggs and challenger Jefferson G. Griffin, from the party that recently captured the majority on the highest court in the state. The numbers are still rolling in as I type this on Monday, with Riggs up right now by 66 votes. [UPDATE: As of 8 am Tuesday Riggs is up by 623 votes]

As we’ve mentioned in this space, it is impossible to gerrymander a statewide election. But in a year where Donald Trump once again captured the hearts of NC voters, lots of Democrats won their statewide elections, notably the governor and all the most important council of state seats. 

But the state supreme court race, as important as it is, did not attract as many voters as the main event, Trump v. Harris, by a lot — or, enough to make a difference.

About 5.7 million North Carolinians voted in the presidential race. Just a bit more than 5.5 million, as of Monday afternoon, voted in the Supreme Court race, a differential of almost 159,000 votes. A lot of them were likely Trump voters — he took NC by 183,592 votes — but there’s no way of knowing.

The pros call this “downballot dropoff,” and judicial races often bear the brunt of disinterested voters. But this should serve as fair warning to voters from both parties: It’s important — crucial, even — to educate yourself on every race on the ballot, and then vote in all of them. Democracy is a team sport, and we all need to do our part to make our voices heard.