N. Carolina justices hand GOP big wins with election rulings

By GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — In massive victories for Republicans, North Carolina’s newly GOP-controlled state Supreme Court has thrown out a previous ruling against gerrymandered voting maps and upheld a photo voter identification law that colleagues had struck down as racially biased. Friday’s rulings should make it significantly easier for the GOP-controlled legislature to rework the state’s congressional map for next year’s election to help Republicans gain seats in the narrowly divided U.S. House. Under the current map, Democrats won seven of the state’s 14 congressional seats last November. The court swept away decisions made in December when the Democrats held a 4-3 seat advantage. One decision means a photo ID mandate could soon be required in North Carolina elections.