Elections 101: Find your North Carolina sample ballot

Note: This guide was first published in October of 2024. It has been updated for the 2026 election.

You might know who you want to vote for at the top of the ballot. But mid-term elections offer voters more choices than just candidates running for U.S. House and Senate.

Pulling your sample ballot is one sure-fire way of knowing exactly what to expect when you walk in to the voting booth. Better yet, you can take the sample ballot with you, so that you can then just match up exactly the votes you've already decided on.

But where to find that sample ballot? Below is a step by step process, with screen shots, to get you quickly and easily to your own sample ballot..

Start by going to www.ncsbe.gov and clicking on the "Voter Search" icon, circled in red in the screenshot below.

NCSBE

On the search page, enter in your first and last name. The other fields are optional, but can help narrow the search if you have a common name.

NCSBE

After filling in the name, click search and then click on your name.

NCSBE

Your name is a hot link, which means you can simply click on it to pull up information. The following page includes a lot of information about you and you can confirm that you are registered properly. To find your sample ballot, scroll down a bit until you see the "Sample Ballot" section.

NCSBE

Again, this is a hot link, so simply click on that ballot, and it will pull up a PDF file of your sample ballot. Except for the red "SAMPLE BALLOT" writing around the outside, this is what your ballot will look like in the voter booth.

N.C. State Board of Elections

You may print this ballot out and use it as a reference guide. However it's important to note that this can not be used as your official ballot with which to vote. You may use this as a reference guide in the voting booth, but do not try to use this sample ballot as the actual ballot you vote with. You will still have to fill out the bubbles of your official ballot in order to cast your vote.