North Carolina state election law gives county election boards broad authority to determine the form of the ballot used in federal, state, and local races. This paper examines the extent to which ballot formats appear to be strategically chosen and the impact of ballot design on 1992 North Carolina elections. Our results indicate that the form of the ballot influenced the decisions of some voters in statewide races in 1992 and that the design of the ballot may have been chosen strategically by county election boards dominated by the members of one party. © 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers.