A recent set of statements made by the campaign for Judge Ola Lewis regarding ballot order are not ringing quite true. The claim is being made that the Legislature have the NC Board of Elections the right to put Justice Mark Martin’s name first on the ballot.
The authority was given to the State Board of Elections to do so, that part is true.
This claim appears to be framed like an attack on one candidate, that part is not true.
Before this thing turns into a bruhaha, let’s clarify: This is not a change aimed at any one candidate. It applies to all candidates and provides continuity by bringing the General election and the primary election ballot processes into alignment.
Keep reading. There is more to this story.
The Claim
There was a Facebook post (link) that had the caption:
#TEAMOLA The NC GOP Executive Committee Endorsed My Opponent Today….I Was Asked To Step Aside…..Not Happening! 122 Members Of A Political Body Will Not Decide This Race! The People Of NC Will!#JustGettingStarted! #OnTheRise
Below the image on the above post was the following comment from the Lewis campaign:
“Judge Ola Lewis for North Carolina Supreme Court The NC Legislature has also given the State Board of Elections the right to reverse the order of names as they appear in this falls ballot! My name will not be listed first! They are terrified of our victory!”
A search on Facebook found this claim of ballot name ordering is repeated by one Betty White. The post appears to be an official statement which has been copied and pasted to Facebook as evidenced by “Press Release, August 6, 2014” written at the top and written at bottom of this post is “Paid for by the Committee to Elect Judge Ola Lewis to NC Supreme Court”.
Ballot Order Is Not Singling Anyone Out
The way this claim, and the ‘official statement’ were phrased makes it seem like a deliberate strike against Lewis, that is apparently not the case. It is being applied to all candidates, not just the Supreme Court Justice race.
Digging into this claim has shown that randomization of ballot order in the past applied only to Primaries, not General Elections. This has changed, likely in an effort to maintain continuity.
According to WWAYTV3, ballot order has been legislated to be random selection for nonpartisan races. It just so happens that this year that random selection means that candidates are listed in reverse alphabetical order starting with the letter W. Also according to WWAYTV3, Nineteen other candidates have this same random selection applied to them. The article at WWAYTV3 failed to mention that this random selection was the method used in Primaries only up until this year and that same process is now being applied to General Elections.
Backstory of Random Selection & SB 403
That ‘random selection’ began with Primaries and is found in Article 14a of State Statute 163 which reads as follows with emphasis added:
(c) Order of Candidates on Primary Official Ballots. – The order in which candidates shall appear on a county’s official ballots in any primary ballot item shall be determined by the county board of elections using a process designed by the State Board of Elections for random selection.
WWAYTV3 claim of legislation that would be going into effect on Wednesday, August 8 2014 which would bring General Election ballot order into alignment with the Primary process can be found in Senate Bill 403. The state statute, § 163-165.6 Arrangement of official ballots, for General Elections does not contain such language as of yet. Likely the site has not been updated yet.
There is a trail leading back to 2002 and a memo re-affirming it in 2010, which describes the random selection process in detail. Cumberland County’s Board of Elections also has this randomization detail. A 2002 legislative change would mean that Democrats, not Republicans, were behind this measure. Related Reading: Tillis will appear first on GOP primary ballots under quirky state election policy
Of note — There has been no detectable outcry about Judge Lewis being placed first on the NC Board of Elections Voter guide.
LL1885 
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