Residents of North Carolina will go to the polls on May 8. On the ballot, Amendment One, a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as a union between one man and one woman in the state's constitution.

Stuart Campbell, Executive Director of Equality North Carolina, said today that his organization has been working for months on raising awareness of the harm Amendment One would cause North Carolinians should it pass next week.

North Carolina already has at least one statute that bans such unions, Campbell said.

When asked why North Carolina's Republican legislators were pushing a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage when existing laws already ban such unions, Campbell said it was simply an “assault” on the state's LGBT residents.

“They've giving the typical reasons, that this is needed to protect marriage. That's really a smoke screen. It's really an assault on the LGBT community in North Carolina," Campbell said.

Campbell's organization has partnered with The Coalition to Protect NC Families, an advocacy group created to defeat Amendment One. The Coalition to Protect NC Families said today that it as raised some $2.2 million to combat Amendment One. 80 percent of that money has come from North Carolina residents, according to the group.

Campbell said the group is running three ads in local markets across the state.

“We have three ads on the air that highlight the harms of the amendment against women, children,” Campbell said. “There's a lesbian couple in Durham whose child will lose health care if Amendment One is passed. We have an assistant district attorney on another ad, highlighting the concerns she has about domestic violence.”

Campbell added early voting numbers showed a strong turnout, but he still believes Amendment One's future is too close to call.

“We're pleased to see early voting is at a historic high,” Campbell said. “We're certainly encouraged by that. This will be an election that will go down to the wire.”

For more information on The Coalition to Protect NC Families, click here.