The New Hanover County Board of Elections met in closed session on Monday night for nearly three hours. Officially, they were discussing an undisclosed personnel issue, but reporting from WHQR and Port City Daily strongly indicated that the board was discussing DeNay Harris, the embattled elections director.
Officials said they could not discuss much about Harris’ status beyond acknowledging she was on paid administrative leave. However, sources familiar with the situation at both the state and local level told WHQR on condition of anonymity that the county board (NHCBOE) is expected to send a petition to remove Harris to the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) in the near future. The process can take some time: Harris will be provided with a copy of the petition and given 15 days to respond; after that, NCSBE Executive Director Sam Hayes has 20 days from Harris’ response (or a missed deadline) to reply to make a decision to retain or fire her. By law, the state board could disagree with the executive director, but historically, that’s been uncommon.
Harris was hired in January and started work in early February. Her first few weeks went relatively smoothly, but following Primary Election Day, her relationship with NHCBOE and the office of County Manager Chris Coudriet deteriorated rapidly. By law, the county provides funding for election facilities and staff, but election offices remain independent state agencies.
Related: Between the offices": Relationship between NHC elections director and county manager on shaky ground
Harris made numerous allegations, including suggesting that county staff who had been assisting with the election had broken laws around election security, after which Coudriet implied to Harris that he could withhold county resources. Harris and at least one NHCBOE board member said they felt Coudriet was overstepping — and not for the first time — but Coudriet said he felt his comments were appropriate.
Harris suggested there was a web of relationships between people in local leadership, although she failed to explain how these might be nefarious. Harris also alleged she was bullied and retaliated against for attempting to enforce those election laws. She claimed that part of that retaliation involved manipulating her email, saying some messages were deleted from her inbox and, on at least one occasion, a message was sent to the press from her account without her knowledge. Harris told reporters she believed this was being done by Coudriet and her own board to undermine her position. Both the county and NHCBOE have denied all forms of wrongdoing.
In a statement released Monday night, NHCBOE Chair Jamie Getty thanked the county for its assistance in recent elections and touted the board's bipartisan efforts to improve "transparency, election security, and the delivery of election services to the people of New Hanover County." While she noted “a prior history of division between county and election leadership,” she added that “we are proud that those days are behind us, and we will not go back.”
Getty did not directly address Harris’ allegations, but did write that "public comments by elections staff that disparage fellow county employees and public servants are unacceptable." She noted that she and the board were bound by personnel law, but offered an oblique apology, writing “to those whose character and public service were maligned, we offer our sincere apologies.” She said that Harris “will remain on administrative leave until the conclusion of the review of this matter. This is with bipartisan and unanimous support.”
Getty did not provide a timeline on how long the review would take.
Preliminary investigation report shows no email tampering
Following Harris’ claims that her emails were being manipulated, the county’s chief information officer, Sunny Hwang, sought to conduct a forensic review of her laptop and account — something Harris also said she wanted, telling WHQR she didn’t think the county would provide one because it would vindicate her. In email correspondence with Harris, Hwang said her claims were “highly unusual and contrary to the known behavior of our systems.” Harris, at one point, emailed a video of her desktop, intended to back up her claims. However, apparently only a very short clip of it was sent, generating additional skepticism about the alleged tampering. The clip, reviewed by WHQR, shows about four seconds of her desk and a pile of sticky notes and business cards.
According to email records from the county, last week, the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office took possession of Harris’ laptop and delivered it to Titan Digital Forensics & Consulting, a third-party vendor that examined the physical device. The county also had its cybersecurity provider, Netrio, examine Harris’ Microsoft 365 cloud.
“Both investigations found zero evidence of unauthorized access, account delegation, or data manipulation by any party other than the assigned user,” Hwang wrote in a summary on Monday. “The technical evidence provided by both independent firms is consistent and conclusive. The logs and hardware artifacts demonstrate that the account and device remained under the exclusive control of the assigned user. There is no technical evidence to support the claims of unauthorized monitoring, external compromise, or administrative manipulation of data by New Hanover County staff, or any other actors.”
The report from Titan does note that its findings are “preliminary” due to the short turnaround time, which meant there was no peer or alternate review and no coordination with the county’s IT or other departments. Titan also noted that Harris’ “allegations did not have any factual basis or information to limit the scope or identify specifics.” The firm is still working on a full technical report.
The county said it paid Titan $2,600 for the work; according to Hwang’s email, Netrio did not charge an additional fee for their services.
NAACP calls for investigation
On Monday, the New Hanover County NAACP issued a press release, saying it was “deeply concerned about the recent allegations made by the Director of Elections, DeNay Harris, regarding interference, retaliation, and workplace misconduct within the New Hanover County Board of Elections.”
In a statement, New Hanover County branch President LeRon Montgomery wrote, “At the core of this issue is a troubling claim that a qualified leader, responsible for safeguarding the integrity of our democratic process, has been targeted with undermining, intimidation, and retaliation after insisting on following North Carolina election law. The NAACP finds it especially concerning that these actions seem to be part of a longstanding pattern where Black leaders and women in authority face excessive scrutiny, disrespect, and obstruction in their work.”
The local NAACP called for a “full, independent investigation into all allegations of misconduct, retaliation, racism, and sexism,” along with “safeguards to protect the integrity and independence of the BOE” and “protection for all employees and witnesses who come forward.” The NAACP also called for “accountability for any individuals found to have engaged in discriminatory or retaliatory conduct, a public commitment to equity, transparency, and lawful governance within county operations.”
