text: how does north carolina vote?   they elect: the governor, lieutenant governor, and eight elected department heads form the north carolina council of state. ten other department heads appointed by the governor form the north carolina cabinet.  the north carolina general assembly consists of two houses, a 50-member senate and a 120-member house of representatives. for the 2005–2006 session, the current president pro tempore of the senate is democrat marc basnight (the lieutenant governor of north carolina is the president of the senate); the house speaker is democrat james b. black. the prior term's power sharing co-speaker arrangement is no longer in effect, as the house democrats won a decided victory and majority of the seats in the 2004 election.   they elect in 2nd grade elections.