RALEIGH – If a leading candidate fails to get more than 40 percent of the vote in a North Carolina primary election race this May, when is the runoff?

It depends.

The runoff recently has been held seven weeks after the primary, which this year would be June 26. But a new state law designed to fulfill a federal mandate would delay all runoffs until July 17 should one be needed for a congressional primary.

Given some U.S. House primary races are expected to have several candidates running – at least nine Republicans have expressed interest in the 11th Congressional District nomination, for example – there’s a good chance at least one election will fail to be resolved at the May 8 primary. Only the top two vote-getters advance to the runoff.

North Carolina election officials are prepping for a later runoff date, too.

“I am anticipating not taking my regular week of July 4 vacation,” quipped N.C. State Board of Elections director Gary Bartlett.

Bartlett said Thursday three additional weeks would be needed to comply with new federal requirements that North Carolina military personnel and other state residents living overseas are sent absentee ballots 45 days before the runoff. The General Assembly approved the primary runoff date change with little fanfare last year as part of broader legislation designed to streamline voting for these citizens.

The mid-July date may erode voter involvement in a runoff – officially called a “second primary” – that in recent history has been marked by extremely low turnout. In 2008, only 1.9 percent of the eligible voters participated in the runoff for the Democratic primary for labor commissioner and two local legislative races. Runoff turnouts over the past 20 years have reached as high as 8 percent of eligible voters.

Any runoff could get more attention should the leading candidate in the Democratic primary for governor failed to reach the 40 percent-plus threshold. Three candidates already are in the race, and four others are considering bids.

Extending the wait from seven to 10 weeks would require the surviving Democratic gubernatorial candidates to spend more campaign dollars to try to win the nomination. That would likely benefit presumptive Republican nominee Pat McCrory, who doesn’t appear to have a significant GOP rival.

The wait between the primary and the runoff had been four weeks through 2006. The Legislature passed a law that year to extend the difference in future years to seven weeks after the U.S. Department of Justice filed a complaint to enforce a previous law for military and overseas voters.

A 2009 federal law required the 45-day window to send and collect these absentee ballots.