The New York Times has a generally balanced story about Roy Cooper and NC's voting laws. I would take issue with the Times claim that NC is about equally balanced between Dem and Republican with the GOP enjoying a majority due to gerrymandering. The fact is, the GOP came to power in Democrat designed districts. To turn a spot light on the issue of party balance, the NC State Board of Elections says there are 2.8 million registered Democrats, 2.0 million registered Republicans and 1.7 million registered independents. The parties are far from equal in NC. The fact of the matter is, those 1.7 million independents broke toward the GOP in the last few years in state races. They had been breaking toward the GOP in national races for longer. Sometimes, I wish the Times would do just a little research.