OPINION: Tight NC Supreme Court race proves again that every single vote matters

The election of a crucial seat on North Carolina’s highest court, which could have outsized power over abortion rights and democracy, looks like it will come down to about 600 votes.

Just how important are 600 votes?

Each election cycle, we are hammered with messages like “every vote matters,” “your vote counts,” and “this is the most important election of our lifetime” – it can become numbing. But year after year, we are reminded that the impact of a single vote is as powerful as ever.

Over the last 20 years, the president has often been elected by the smallest of margins. And on a statewide and local level, the margins are routinely less.

READ MORE: Riggs declares victory in NC Supreme Court race as her opponent challenges 60,000 votes

It’s a lesson that North Carolina voters were reminded of in the 2020 state Supreme Court race between Chief Justice Cheri Beasley and her Republican opponent Paul Newby. Following two recounts, the North Carolina State Board of Elections certified the results that Paul Newby had won by 401 votes out of nearly 5.4 million cast in the 2020 election. 

This year, North Carolina voters are once again witnessing why every vote matters, especially in state court races.

Currently, a statewide recount is underway for the state Supreme Court race between Justice Allison Riggs and Judge Jefferson Griffin. Several counties have already completed their counts and certified their results, while the rest will be completed in the coming days. 

Justice Riggs leads Judge Griffin by 623 votes out of about 5.5 million cast in the race – a 0.02% separation. 

Losing candidate Griffin has already filed hundreds of election protests to try to throw out over 60,000 ballots – approximately the total population of the town of Chapel Hill. 

Griffin has every right to ask for a recount and our state election officials should have the utmost support to ensure that every vote is counted. But baseless accusations of fraud and attempts to target and intimidate individual voters are an attack on our democracy and an attempt to undermine our voices. If that’s Griffin’s goal, he won’t succeed.

Because despite all the obstacles there are to voting – suppressive laws, gerrymandered maps, and increasingly arbitrary rules and restrictions imposed by Republicans hell-bent on staying in power – North Carolina voters came out in droves to have their voices heard. 

Every vote matters because every vote is a voice and whether the winning margin is 10 or 600 or 10,000 – those voices matter.