North Carolina may take up a constitutional ban against gay marriage on Monday, and the amendment could draw conservative voters to the polls in 2012 in a state President Barack Obama won by a razor-thin margin in 2008.

North Carolina is the only southeastern U.S. state without a same-sex marriage ban in its constitution and Republican lawmakers - in charge of the legislature for the first time in 140 years - are set to debate a constitutional amendment today, the Associated Press reported.