On Monday, Gov. Pat McCrory conceded the state’s gubernatorial race, locking in current Attorney General Roy Cooper as the next governor.

For weeks, vote tallies have placed the opponents just thousands of votes apart, but late last week, Cooper’s votes continued to climb past McCrory’s by a larger margin. The threshold in North Carolina for a gubernatorial candidate to request a recount is at 10,000 votes or less. At the end of last week, Cooper’s lead surpassed that threshold.

Many have criticized McCrory’s decision to continue fighting the results, insisting on a recount and investigating the voter situation in Durham County. Cooper already declared victory on election night, so McCrory’s attempts had the appearance of a sore loser.

Bottom line is that he made the right decision to finally concede the race. One could argue that it took much too long for McCrory to concede, which isn’t a statement without merit, because at the end of the day, the votes are in and that’s that.

McCrory did appear to be grasping at straws.

This is a big step in locking in the election results, and it is time to accept these results and move on.

That statement holds true at the Beaufort County level, as well.

The Beaufort County Board of Commissioners swearing-in procedures have been delayed because of a recount request in the race between incumbent Gary Brinn and Derik Davis, both of whom are Republicans.

The local Board of Elections has looked to the State Board of Elections to begin this process, and officials hope the process can continue in a day or so.

It’s time to certify election results and move on until the next round. There is no doubt that the local Board of Elections will do all it can to make it happen. A bookend on this situation is what’s needed.