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GREENSBORO — Voters in the City Council primary election will notice something out of order on their ballots.

Out of alphabetical order.

For the first time in the Greensboro's City Council election history, candidates' names will be listed in reverse ABC order.

Charlie Collicutt, the assistant director of elections in Guilford County, said this is something new and is being done statewide. Same goes for the Pleasant Garden Town Council elections.

It's the state's decision, Collicutt stressed, not Guilford County's.

Early voting in both primaries will start today. The primary is Oct. 9.

Collicutt said that when the general election comes around Nov. 6, candidates will be listed A-Z, as they have every previous year.

But 26 candidates for City Council are just trying to survive the primary.

And this reverse ABC order thing is not good news for at-large hopeful Marikay Abuzuaiter, who expected to be listed first among 13 candidates. The restaurateur said she has told everyone she sees to vote for the first candidate on the jam-packed at-large ballot.

That would be Greg Woodard.

Woodard was giddy Wednesday when he learned about the switcheroo.

"Oh my God! Oh, wonderful!" he shouted. "I'm overjoyed! I might actually have a chance!"

This backward alphabet is hitting incumbents particularly hard.

In District 1, Luther T. Falls Jr. will be listed first. Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small is last. Falls nearly beat Bellamy-Small in the 2005 council election, losing by a mere 50 votes.

It's the same situation in District 5, where long-time representative Sandy Carmany is listed last. Her top opponent, former Guilford County Commissioner Trudy Wade, is first.

Carmany said Wednesday she's not sure this will affect her race, since there are only three candidates. Anyway, she said, she assumes most voters know for whom they're voting before they see the ballot order.

And what of Councilwoman Sandra Anderson Groat, who added a hyphen just on her voter registration so she could appear on the at-large ballot as Sandra Anderson-Groat?

She'll appear 12th on the ballot, not second.

Meanwhile, Abuzuaiter has revised her slogan: "Last on the ballot; first for you."

Contact Margaret Moffett Banks at 373-7031 or mbanks@news-record.com