Audit: For odd-year municipal elections, per ballot costs go from $5 to $1,500

“At the end of the day, elections are local, and this audit breaks down how much it actually costs to run an odd-year election,” Boliek said. “Our team performed this work in an effort to clearly identify to taxpayers and policymakers across the state that substantial resources are required to run fair and free elections in our state.”

Far more of the state’s more than 7.8 million voters will be participating this year in the midterm election cycle. Absentee ballots go into the mail Sept. 4 – or five weeks from this coming Friday. North Carolinians will choose a U.S. senator, all 14 members of the U.S. House, and all 170 members of the General Assembly in addition to a fair number of local races.

Personnel ($5.1 million) was the biggest driver in costs. Operating costs ($2.1 million) and use of building and space ($1.1 million) were other significant factors borne by participating municipalities and special districts.

While the Camden County – population about 11,300 – figures seem alarming, context helps explain a unique circumstance. Elizabeth City is primarily in Pasquotank County, but a portion does cross east into Camden. And that’s where five of the 1,633 ballots were cast in a nonpartisan race won by Kirk Rivers.

Camden County, which had 6,325 ballots in the 2024 presidential election cycle, had $7,589 in costs. The $4,176 for personnel was split $2,865 for election officials and judge pay, and $1,311 for board member pay, and operating costs of $3,413 was split $2,539 for ballot printing and coding, $837 for advertising and public notices, and $37 for postage.

Comparatively, Pasquotank – population about 42,000 – also had a Ward 1 seat on the ballot and had $38,544 in costs for 1,658 ballots cast. That’s a $23.25 per ballot cost in line with the state average by size.

Mecklenburg, second largest to Wake County at more than 1.2 million, easily had the most ballots cast at 1 in 4 of the total state number and absorbed nearly $1.3 million in costs. The 220,805 votes were roughly one-third of the 2024 election’s 580,321.

Other small counties with high cost per votes included Gates (19 ballots, $357.95 each), Swain (131 ballots, $197.53 each), Yadkin (54 ballots, $150.93 each), and Graham (158 ballots, $92.84 each).

Counties getting under $9 a ballot in addition to Mecklenburg were Beaufort (3,427 ballots, $6 each), Guilford (74,427 ballots, $6.37 each), Cabarrus (22,429 ballots, $6.62 each), Iredell (9,327 ballots, $7.39 each), Pamlico (552 ballots, $7.77 each), Lenoir (4,124 ballots, $7.82 each), Transylvania (2,625 ballots, $8.10 each), Wilkes (1,154 ballots, $8.35 each), Alamance (13,654 ballots, $8.83 each), Johnston (5,988 ballots, $8.95 each), and Cumberland (38,026 ballots, $8.96 each).