The State Board of Elections announced Tuesday that 27 presidential candidates will appear on North Carolina’s presidential primary ballot. The North Carolina presidential primary will be held on Tuesday, March 15, 2016.
“We encourage every eligible voter to participate in the election process,” said Executive Director Kim Westbrook Strach. “With absentee voting just weeks away, we are excited about the upcoming election.”
North Carolina law requires the order of names appearing on the primary ballot to be chosen by random selection. Below, in alphabetical order starting from the letter “H”, are the names of the Republican, Democratic and Libertarian presidential candidates on the ballot:
Republicans: Mike Huckabee, John R. Kasich, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, Donald J. Trump, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Chris Christie, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, Jim Glimore
Democrats: Martin J. O’Malley, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente
Libertarians: John David Hale, Cecil Ince, Gary Johnson,Steven Elliott Kerbel, Darryl W. Perry, Austin Petersen, Derrick Michael Reid, Jack B. Robinson Jr., Rhett Rosenquest Smith, Barbara Joy Waymire, Marc Allan Feldman
North Carolinians will head to the polls for a primary on March 15th, though it has traditionally been held in May. The legislature passed a bill to shift the primary date and it was signed into law by Governor Pat McCrory last Fall.
Here are some important dates for voters to keep in mind:
Absentee voting begins on Monday, January 25th
The regular voter registration deadline is Friday, January 19th. Same-day registration is also available during the one-stop early voting period, subject to ongoing litigation.
One-stop early voting runs Thursday, March 3rd to Saturday, March 12th at 1:00pm.
