The shrinking post of lieutenant governor in North Carolina may be about to get even smaller — and that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.

The state Senate has given preliminary approval to the so-called “team ticket” method of selecting a lieutenant governor. Under the measure — a proposed constitutional amendment that would require approval voters — the governor and lieutenant governor would run as a team, rather than appearing separately on the general election ballot as they do now. In most cases, each gubernatorial candidate would suggest a nominee for lieutenant governor, who would then be vetted by the executive committee of their party before appearing on the ticket. This is similar to the way in which presidential tickets are formed — and gubernatorial tickets in most other states.

Voters might wonder why they should consider changing the current system, which gave us one of the more interesting races in the past election as Sens. Beverly Perdue and Betsy Cochrane battled to see who would become the state’s first woman lieutenant governor. The office was stripped of most legislative power more than a decade ago, so why tinker with a figurehead post that has no more — or less — power than the governor chooses to delegate to it anyhow?

As long as voters pick a governor and lieutenant governor from the same party, sharing the same political views, the system works. But what if they’re from opposing parties — as has happened twice in recent history — and are, in effect, political rivals rather than players on the same team? Then what happens if the governor becomes incapacitated or dies in office?

Voters should be wary of any change that takes away choices on the ballot. But in this case, the system holds the possibility that the state’s highest elected official could be involuntarily succeeded by a political rival who could radically shift priorities and programs. The result would be discontinuity at best, if not utter chaos.

Before dismissing that possibility as unlikely, consider the unforeseeable chain of events that determined the outcome of this year’s presidential race. Now take that a step further and imagine that the nation had ended up with a president and vice president from opposing political parties.

If you find that an unsettling scenario, then think again about how North Carolina selects its lieutenant governors.