CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina absentee ballots will be sent out this Friday, Sept. 20, and many people are wondering how candidates are ordered on the ballot since they don't show up alphabetically.
Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appear first on the ballot, with former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance second to last.
A post on X, the social media website formerly known as Twitter, attempted to paint this as underhanded, calling North Carolina's ballot "an indefensible and clear attempt at voter manipulation."
So why is Trump's name near the end of the ballot since he's representing one of the two major parties?
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OUR SOURCES
WHAT WE FOUND
The North Carolina State Board of Elections is required to randomly determine the order of candidates on the ballot.
It's a two-step process where a ball with a letter on it is drawn from a bingo machine and then a coin is flipped to determine if it will go in alphabetical order or reverse alphabetical order. The state says this process happened on Dec. 15, 2023.
The Board of Elections picked the letter D out of the bingo machine. A coin was then flipped and it was determined to go in alphabetical order.
Because of this, you will see Harris and Walz’s first since Harris is the next letter following D, while Trump will appear second to last on the ballot. It sounds like a weird way to do it, but that's what the law says, according to Dickerson.
"This is something that the legislation requires that we do so you randomize, not have Democrats or Republicans, on the ballot first," Dickerson explained.
This is something that is done before every primary and general election in North Carolina to determine the order of names.
Contact Meghan Bragg at mbragg@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.