State Board of Elections staff will hold a random drawing at noon on Wednesday, Aug. 2, to determine the order of candidates for certain ballot contests during the November 2023 elections.
The drawing will be broadcast live via Webex. Any member of the public may observe the meeting online or by phone, as provided below.
- Online: Webex (Password: NCSBE)
- By Phone: Dial 415-655-0003, enter access code 2422 504 3749#, passcode 62723#
Contests affected by the drawing include sanitary district and water district elections in several counties and boards of education contests in several counties, among others. A news release with results of the drawing and the affected contests will be sent out after Wednesday’s 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 for certain non-municipal contests 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.
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