Let’s talk about voting for judges. Yeah, I get it. When you fill out your ballot, you don’t know who they are and so maybe you skip over them for fear of voting for somebody horrible.
Problem is, if you don’t vote, the horrible people might get elected anyway.
Judicial undervoting is not just a North Carolina problem. I used to live in Cleveland, where Irish surnames prevailed in the judiciary. If your name was Russo, Gallagher, O’Donnell, or Kelley, you were practically a shoo-in, regardless of qualification. In 2012, Cullen Goretzke couldn’t win an election until he took his wife’s surname: Sweeney.
If you skip judicial races, you’re not alone. Data shows a significant drop-off in votes down-ballot. They are often decided by very few people, even statewide. In the 2020 N.C. Supreme Court race, incumbent Cheri Beasley lost by 401 votes to Republican Paul Newby out of nearly 5.4 million cast. In 2024, Republican Jefferson Griffin lost to incumbent Allison Riggs by 734 votes.
If you don’t think judicial races are important, consider the efforts Griffin and his fellow Republicans made to overturn their loss. When multiple recounts failed to deliver the result he wanted, he proposed to throw out 60,000 legally-cast ballots on a technicality. After six months of litigation, a Federal judge put us out of our misery and declared Riggs the winner.
Does the makeup of the judiciary really make a difference to you, personally? I’m here to prove that it does.
North Carolina judicial races used to be “non-partisan,” in that, although political parties nominated candidates, the affiliations did not appear on the ballot next to the names. In 2016, Republican legislators passed a law requiring party affiliation be added to the ballots. Since Republicans won a 5-2 majority in 2022, they have made major changes in every area of our lives.
Elections and Voting Rights: In 2022, a Democratic-controlled state Supreme Court declared in Harper vs Hall that gerrymandered maps violated the state constitution. This resulted in new maps and a more equitable 7-7 split in the Congressional delegation. After Republicans took control of the Supreme Court, it overturned Harper vs Hall in 2023. The Republican assembly promptly passed maps that resulted in 14 Republican seats vs 3 Democratic ones. Even if Democrats tallied up more total votes statewide, they would win less than 30% of the seats.
The voters stayed the same, but now politicians choose their voters. Same state constitution, different judges.
Utility rates: Think your utility bills are too high? The state utilities commission is supposed to protect customers in approving rate changes. The State Supreme Court is supposed to ensure that they meet that requirement. Duke Energy is reaping record profits, and yet the Utilities Commission just approved another massive rate increase with the blessing of the Republican majority on the State Supreme Court. Not only that, customers in Western North Carolina will pay more than those in the east.
The two Democrats on the court dissented.
That’s just the beginning. Duke Energy is already seeking rate increases of 12% in 2027 and 4% in 2028. It seems unlikely that a Republican-controlled court will stand in their way.
Education: In 1997, the NC State Supreme Court in Leandro ruled that every child in the state has a constitutional right to access a “sound basic education,” a standard that includes access to competent teachers, qualified principals, and sufficient educational resources. Since then, state courts have repeatedly found that the state failed to meet that obligation, culminating in a 2022 order to transfer $1.75 billion in state funds to implement a remedial plan. However, in 2026, the Republican State Supreme Court vacated that ruling. In effect, it left the right to a sound education in place,while eliminating the funding required to achieve it.
Meanwhile, teacher pay in North Carolina has dropped to 46th in the nation, trailing every neighboring state. North Carolina ranks dead last in the nation for public school funding as a percentage of its total economy.
Hopefully, I’ve convinced you that it’s important to vote for the right judges. But how to choose? I would prefer a non-partisan judiciary, where a judge’s ruling could not be predicted based on their party affiliation. But that is not what we have. In the absence of that, I suggest voting for the candidate from the party that best represents your values and priorities. The important thing is to vote.
CS Chima is a writer and retired health care administrator in Asheville.