— information from the N.C. State Board of Elections
State elections officials on Friday afternoon completed a two-step random process to determine how names of the upcoming ballots would appear. State law requires that the State Elections Board determine the order that names will appear on the ballots.
First, a ball was selected out of a bingo machine, with the letter on the ball corresponding with the first letter of the last name of the candidate to be listed first on the ballot. Second, a coin was flipped, with the side facing up corresponding to whether the candidates will be listed in alphabetical order (“heads”) or reverse alphabetical order (“tails”).
The letter on the ball selected from the bingo machine was the letter “F,” meaning candidates whose last names begin with the letter “F” will appear first in contests in the primary and general elections. The subsequent coin flip showed “tails” facing up, meaning that additional candidates will follow in alphabetical order as follows: F, E, D, C, B, A, Z, Y, X, W, V, U, T, S, R, Q, P, O, N, M, L, K, J, I, H, G
This ballot order drawing applies to all 2026 primary and general election contests except for municipal contests. Candidates for municipal office are listed in strict alphabetical order beginning with A, according to state law.
The ballot order selection process was streamed live on Webex.
The 2026 primary election is March 3. The general election is Nov. 3.
