Someone pointed out to me at lunch today why the law is that way. It was a totally partisan effort by NC Democrats to allow people to vote Republican in the national election and vote Democratic in local elections. As it turns out, it seems to have worked. NC has a long history of voting R for president but voting D for local office, or at least having D candidates be viable, which is much more than can be said for most other southern states.

So I take back my prediction.