The Guilford County Republican Party unexpectedly has another election to run before the November election.
And it doesn’t have much time to do it.
Tony Jacobelli, the Republican nominee for the at-large seat on the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, formally withdrew from the race this week, leaving the party scrambling to choose a replacement while Guilford County elections officials are already beginning the complicated process of preparing ballots for November.
Jacobelli submitted a written withdrawal dated Monday, Aug. 17, that was received by the Guilford County Board of Elections on Tuesday, Aug. 18.
“As the 2026 Republican nominee for Guilford County Commissioner – At Large, I ask that my name be removed from the 2026 ballot for said position,” Jacobelli wrote.
He said his decision was for personal reasons.
“My current situation does not allow me to adequately campaign for this race, and I feel it would be a disservice to not only the registered voters in Guilford County, but all citizens of the county,” Jacobelli wrote in the letter to the elections office.
Jacobelli had been the Republican nominee for the at-large seat being vacated by longtime Democratic Commissioner Kay Cashion. He had no Republican primary opponent and was scheduled to face Democratic nominee Greg Drumwright in November.
North Carolina election law allows a party nominee to withdraw after the primary, but there is a deadline: Under state law, a nominee may withdraw by submitting a written request to the board of elections that certified the nomination before military and overseas absentee ballots begin being transmitted.
Once a nominee for an elective county office withdraws, dies or becomes ineligible before the general election, state law gives the political party’s county executive committee the authority to fill the vacancy. The party executive committee then certifies its new nominee to the appropriate board of elections.
That means there won’t be another Republican primary. Instead, Guilford County Republican Party officials have to select a replacement nominee through the party’s executive committee.
For Guilford County Elections Director Charlie Collicutt, the late change adds another moving part at a time when his office already has very little slack in the calendar.
Collicutt said on Wednesday that ballots haven’t yet been printed, which means there is still time to replace Jacobelli’s name.
“It’s not too late,” Collicutt said.
But he quickly added that there is a lot that has to happen before a ballot can be mailed to anyone.
Collicutt said the first major deadline for his office is September 4, when ballots must begin going out to military and overseas voters.
Working backward from that date, Collicutt said that his office must lay out the ballot, proof it, get ballots printed, test voting equipment and then order the necessary quantity from the county’s printing vendor.
“I have to have ballots mailed out to the military and overseas on September 4th,” Collicutt told the Rhino Times.
He said it’s difficult to put a precise deadline on when the replacement Republican nominee must be named because the practical limit depends in part on how quickly elections officials can complete all those steps.
The new candidate must also go through the necessary certification process before the county can simply place a different name on the ballot.
State law provides that, when a vacancy occurs in a party nomination for an elective county office, the county executive committee of that political party selects the replacement and certifies that person to the chairman of the Board of Elections with jurisdiction over the ballot.
Jacobelli’s withdrawal came late enough in the process that one provision of the law that can restrict replacements isn’t an obstacle in this case.
State law says that when a vacancy in a nomination occurs for a reason other than death more than 120 days before the general election, the replacement generally must be certified at least 75 days before the election. Jacobelli withdrew much closer than 120 days before the November 3 election – so that particular restriction doesn’t apply here.
The more immediate problem is practical rather than theoretical: ballots have to be ready.
Collicutt said his understanding was that Republican officials expected to provide his office with a replacement name in the next few days.
“From my indications, they’re going to have me a name by the end of the week,” he said.
Once that happens, Collicutt and his staff can keep moving toward the first absentee-ballot deadline.
And replacing one candidate name is only one part of what the elections office is doing between now and November.
Beginning Sept. 4, absentee ballots will start going out as requests are processed, including ballots required to be available for military and overseas voters.
At the same time, county elections workers have to prepare voting systems, train poll workers, organize signs and supplies and prepare the early voting locations and Election Day precincts.
“There’s a lot of logistics as far as signage, supplies, that kind of thing,” Collicutt said.
Jacobelli’s withdrawal illustrates how something that might look relatively simple from the outside – taking one candidate’s name off the ballot and putting another one on – can create a whole lot of work behind the scenes.
