State Board of Elections staff will hold a random drawing at 5:15 p.m. Friday, Sept. 3 to determine the order of candidates for certain ballot contests during the November 2021 elections.
The drawing will be streamed on Facebook Live on the State Board’s Facebook page. A news release will be sent out after the drawing is held.
Contests affected by the drawing include sanitary district and water district elections in several counties, board of education contests in several counties, and the Dosher Hospital Board of Trustees election in Brunswick County. See below for a full list of contests affected by the ballot order drawing.
Lists of candidates may be found on the State Board of Elections website: Candidate Lists.
The State Board is required to randomly determine the order of candidates on the ballot, according to Arrangement of official ballots (N.C.G.S. § 163-165.6(c)). The order will be determined by selecting a ball out of a bingo machine, with the letter on the ball corresponding with the first letter of a candidate’s last name. Candidates whose names start with the letter drawn will appear first on the ballot for their contest. A subsequent coin flip will determine whether additional candidates will follow in alphabetical order or reverse alphabetical order.
This ballot order drawing does not affect the order of candidates for regular municipal elections, such as contests for mayor or town council. Under Ballots; municipal primaries and elections (N.C.G.S. § 163-299(c)), candidates’ names in those contests are listed in strict alphabetical order, unless the municipal governing body passes a resolution requesting that candidates’ names be rotated on ballots.
- Brunswick County:
- Brunswick Regional Water and Sewer H2G0 Commissioner
- Dosher Hospital Board of Trustees
- Southeast Brunswick Sanitary District Commissioner
- Buncombe County:
- Woodfin Sanitary Water and Sewer District Trustee
- Burke County:
- Burke County Board of Education Central District
- Burke County Board of Education Eastern District
- Burke County Board of Education Western District
- Catawba County:
- Hickory Public Schools Board of Education Ward 01
- Hickory Public Schools Board of Education Ward 02
- Hickory Public Schools Board of Education Ward 03
- Hickory Public Schools Board of Education Ward 05
- Newton-Conover Schools Board of Education Conover District
- Newton-Conover Schools Board of Education Newton District
- Chatham County:
- Goldston Gulf Sanitary District Board Member
- Cleveland County:
- Cleveland County Water Board Commissioner
- Cumberland County:
- Eastover Sanitary District Board Members
- Eastover Sanitary District Board Members (Unexpired Term)
- Greene County:
- Maury Sanitary Land District Board Member
- Guilford County:
- Sedgefield Sanitary District Board of Directors
- Halifax County:
- Roanoke Rapids Sanitary District Board of Directors
- Roanoke Rapids Graded School Board of Education
- Iredell County:
- Mooresville Graded School Board of Education
- Johnston County:
- Whitley Heights Sanitary District Commissioners
- Northampton County:
- Roanoke Rapids Sanitary District Board of Directors
- Orange County:
- Chapel-Hill Carrboro City Schools Board of Education
- Pitt County:
- Candlewick Area Sanitary District Board
- Randolph County:
- Asheboro City Schools Board of Education
- Wayne County:
- Belfast-Patetown Sanitary District Board Member
- Eastern Wayne Sanitary District Board Member
- Fork Township Sanitary District Board Member
- Southeastern Wayne Sanitary District Board Member
- Southern Wayne Sanitary District Board Member
- Southern Wayne Sanitary District Board Member (Unexpired Term)