North Carolina § 163-165 - 6. Arrangement of official ballots.

§ 163-165. 6. Arrangement of official ballots.

Order of Precedence Generally. - Candidate ballot items shall be arranged on the official ballot before referenda. Order of Precedence for Candidate Ballot Items. - The State Board of Elections shall promulgate rules prescribing the order of offices to be voted on the official ballot. Those rules shall adhere to the following guidelines: Federal offices shall be listed before State and local offices. Member of the United States House of Representatives shall be listed immediately after United States Senator. State and local offices shall be listed according to the size of the electorate. Partisan offices, regardless of the size of the constituency, shall be listed before nonpartisan offices. When offices are in the same class, they shall be listed in alphabetical order by office name, or in numerical or alphabetical order by district name. Governor and Lieutenant Governor, in that order, shall be listed before other Council of State offices. The Supreme Court shall be listed before the Court of Appeals. Judicial offices and district attorney shall be listed, in that order, after other offices in the same class. Mayor shall be listed before other citywide offices. Chair of a board, where elected separately, shall be listed before other board seats having the same electorate. Chief Justice shall be listed before Associate Justices. Ballot items for full terms of an office shall be listed before ballot items for partial terms of the same office. Ballot items for retention elections held under Article 1A of Chapter 7A of the General Statutes shall be grouped with like State offices, but shall be listed after offices for which an election is conducted under Article 25 of this Chapter. Order of Candidates on Official Ballots. - The order in which candidates shall appear on official ballots in any election ballot item shall be either alphabetical order or reverse alphabetical order by the last name of the candidate, which order shall be determined each election by drawing at the State Board after the closing of the filing period for all offices on the ballot. , (e) Repealed by Session Laws 2018-99, s. 1, effective June 26, 2018, and applciable to elections held on or after that date. No Straight-Party Voting. - Each official ballot shall not contain any place that allows a voter with one mark to vote for the candidates of a party for more than one office. Write-In Voting. - Each official ballot shall be so arranged so that voters may cast write-in votes for candidates except where prohibited by G.S. 163-123 or other statutes governing write-in votes. Instructions for general election ballots shall clearly advise voters of the rules of this subsection and of the statutes governing write-in voting. Order of Precedence for Referenda. - Without referencing a numerical order or other reference of order by category or within a category, the referendum questions to be voted on shall be arranged on the official ballot in the following order: Proposed amendments to the North Carolina Constitution, in the chronological order in which the proposals were approved by the General Assembly. Proposed amendments shall be designated by only the phrase "Constitutional Amendment" prior to setting forth the referendum question. Other referenda to be voted on by all voters in the State, in the chronological order in which the proposals were approved by the General Assembly. Referenda to be voted on by fewer than all the voters in the State, in the chronological order of the acts by which the referenda were properly authorized. History (2001-460, s. 3; 2002-158, s. 14; 2013-381, ss. 31.1, 32.1; 2014-111, s. 2; 2015-66, s. 4; 2016-109, ss. 3, 4(a); 2017-6, s. 3; 2018-13, s. 3.6; 2018-99, s. 1; 2018-131, 1st Ex. Sess., s. 1(a); 2018-146, s. 3.1(a), (b).) Elections for Judicial Offices 2018. - Session Laws 2018-13, s. 2(a)-(d), as amended by 2018-130, 1st Ex. Sess., ss. 2, 3, provides: "(a) The General Assembly finds that both chambers of the General Assembly have carefully examined judicial redistricting and the forms of judicial selection with multiple committees considering various proposals of selection and new judicial district maps. The General Assembly finds that, to allow for more time to thoughtfully consider these changes, the General Assembly enacted S.L. 2017-214, the Electoral Freedom Act of 2017, which, among other items, provided for a one-time cancellation of partisan primaries for the offices of district court judge, superior court judge, judges of the Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court justices for the 2018 election cycle. The General Assembly finds that all elections for judges in 2018 were to be treated uniformly under S.L. 2017-214, the Electoral Freedom Act of 2017, while those changes were considered. "The General Assembly notes that election to these offices will be held under a plurality election system, with candidates running under a political party label on the ballot, without having gone through a party primary. The General Assembly finds that ballot language above the sections of 2018 general election ballots regarding these impacted offices setting forth the listed party affiliation of a candidate at least 90 days prior to the time of filing, consistent with G.S. 163A-973, would aid voters' understanding of the 2018 judicial races. "(b) For the 2018 general election, the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement shall, notwithstanding G.S. 163A-1114(b)(2), list the following judicial offices at the end of all partisan offices listed on the general election ballot: "(1) Justices of the Supreme Court. "(2) Judges of the Court of Appeals. "(3) Judges of the superior courts. "(4) Judges of the district courts. "(c) Notwithstanding G.S. 163A-1112, immediately prior to the placement of the judicial offices listed in subsection (b) of this section on the ballot, the following information shall be printed: "No primaries for judicial office were held in 2018. The party information by each of the following candidates' names is shown only if the candidates' party affiliation or unaffiliated status is the same as on their voter registration at the time they filed to run for office and 90 days prior to that filing. "(d) Except as provided in this section, ballot order for the judicial offices listed in subsection (b) of this section shall be as provided in Section 4(j) of S.L. 2017-214." Editor's Note. - This section was recodified as now former G.S. 163A-1114 by Session Laws 2017-6, s. 3. Former G.S. 163A-1114 was then re-recodified as this section by Session Laws 2018-146, s. 3.1(a), effective January 31, 2019. The historical citation from the former section has been added to this section as re-recodified. Session Laws 2002-158, s. 15, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2002-158, s. 15.1, states that nothing in this act obligates the General Assembly to appropriate funds to implement the provisions of the act now or in the future. Session Laws 2016-109, s. 10, made subsection (d1), as added by Session Laws 2016-109, s. 3, applicable to elections held on or after July 22, 2016. Session Laws 2016-109, s. 10, made the amendment to subsection (g) by Session Laws 2016-109, s. 4(a), applicable to elections held on or after July 22, 2016. Session Laws 2018-13, s. 6, is a severability clause. Session Laws 2018-13, s. 7, made the amendment of subdivision (b)(4) of this section by Session Laws 2018-13, s. 3.6, effective June 20, 2018, and applicable to elections held on or after that date. Session laws 2018-99, s. 2, provides: "This act is effective when it becomes law and applies to elections held on or after that date. Notwithstanding G.S. 163A-1114, as enacted by this act, elections held in 2018 shall be conducted using the random selection process previously determined by the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement for all primaries and elections in 2018. No further drawing shall be conducted for any ballot item for the 2018 election." Session Laws 2018-131, 1st Ex. Sess., s. 1(b), provides: "This section is effective when it becomes law [August 4, 2018] and applies to ballots used in the 2018 general election and thereafter. No numerical order or other reference of order for referenda, by category or within a category, shall appear on the 2018 general election ballot. Any captions adopted by the Constitutional Amendments Publication Commission pursuant to G.S. 147-54.10(a) prior to this bill becoming law are null and void and shall not appear on the ballot used in the 2018 general election." Session Laws 2018-146, s. 3.1(b), effective January 31, 2019, repealed Session Laws 2017-6, s. 3, which had recodified this section. Effect of Amendments. - Session Laws 2013-381, ss. 31.1, 32.1, effective January 1, 2014, added "beginning with the party whose nominee for Governor received the most votes in the most recent gubernatorial election" in subdivision (d)(1); and rewrote subsection (e). Session Laws 2014-111, s. 2, effective August 6, 2014, in subsection (c), inserted "and Nonpartisan" in the subsection heading, substituted "(i) primary ballot item, whether the primary is partisan or nonpartisan, and (ii) in any nonpartisan general election ballot item under Article 25 of this Chapter" for "primary ballot item" in the first sentence and added the second sentence. Session Laws 2015-66, s. 4, effective June 11, 2015, added subdivision (b)(6). Session Laws 2016-109, s. 3, effective July 22, 2016, added subsection (d1). See editor's note for applicability. Session Laws 2016-109, s. 4(a), effective July 22, 2016, added the last sentence in subdivision (g)(1). See editor's note for applicability. Session Laws 2018-13, s. 3.6, effective June 20, 2018, inserted the second sentence in subdivision (b)(4). Session Laws 2018-99, s. 1, rewrote subsection (c), and deleted subsections (d), and (e). For effective date and applicability, see editor's note. Session Laws 2018-131, 1st Ex. Sess., s. 1(a), in subsection (h), added "Without referencing a numerical order or other reference of order by category or within a category," at the beginning, made a related stylistic change, and rewrote the second sentence of subdivision (h)(1). For effective date and applicability, see editor's note. Legal Periodicals. - For article, "Think Small: The Future of Public Financing After Arizona Free Enterprise," see 47 Wake Forest L. Rev. 413 (2012).