A question-mark hangs over Republican Melissa Gott’s true residency, and it led the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners on Friday to delay its vote on whether to accept her as the board’s fifth member.
The five-seat commission has run on four members since the resignation of Ted Davis Jr., the Republican and former board chairman who last month accepted an appointment into the N.C. House.
The New Hanover County Republican Party had, after a vetting process and secret ballot collection on Wednesday, offered Gott as Davis’s replacement for the short remainder of his term. Then a neighbor of the address where Gott claims to live alleged to the county’s elections board that she indeed resides outside of the county.
With that in the air, commission Chairman Jonathan Barfield at a special meeting Friday said he was not comfortable appointing Gott. “I cannot in good conscience–I can’t move forward,” Barfield said.
Gott denies the allegation that she lives somewhere other than New Hanover County—her primary residence would have to be in its borders for her to legally sit on the county commission—insisting that she lives on Chestnut Street in downtown Wilmington’s historic district.
But New Hanover County GOP Chairwoman Rhonda Amoroso said she was uncertain about how to follow the commission’s request that the party review the matter and report its findings or recommendations back to the county. That’s uncharted territory, Amoroso said. The party, as long as she has served as chairwoman, has never encountered such a scenario.
“I think it’s a witch hunt,” Amoroso said of the residency concern.
County Elections Director Marvin McFadyen said his office had received “several calls” about Gott’s residency since she emerged as a contender for the county commission’s vacant seat. One Wilmington resident issued a complaint in person.
It came from Carolyn Caldwell, who said she has lived 17 years on Chestnut Street one block from the address Gott claims as her residence. She alleged Gott generally only uses the property as an office.
“Bottom line, that is not her primary residence,” Caldwell insisted when reached by phone Friday.
According to the N.C. State Board of Elections, Gott’s voter registration is tied to 602 Chestnut St., a 19th century colonial-style house owned by Gott and husband William Johnson. It also houses her law office. The property’s tax record lists it as residential-class.
Her voter registration was effective Sept. 2003.
Gott also listed her New Hanover address on her application to the county’s planning board, on which she served and of which she was chairwoman for a time.
Under state law, and for voting purposes, one’s primary domicile is essentially where that person says it is, as long the address claimed is actually owned, rented or occupied by that voter as a residence at least part of the time. As long as he or she “has the intention of returning” to that address to live—whenever—the residency requirement is essentially satisfied, law states. The voter in question doesn’t necessarily have to receive mail or even spend a considerable amount of time there. Generally, the only other necessity is that the voter must claim that property as his or her one-and-only domicile, for voting purposes at least.
Any registered voter who doesn’t believe another voter is living up to residency requirements may submit a registration challenge to the county’s board of elections.
Caldwell said Friday she’s not sure whether she will go that route. She also said she had no motive otherwise to be so concerned. “I’m 77 years old,” Caldwell said. “I have better things to do with my time than harass Melissa Gott.”
But Gott, at Friday’s meeting with commissioners, suggested Caldwell may be reacting to Gott’s professional use of the Chestnut Street house. When Gott several years ago set out to establish her law office at that address, Caldwell “spearheaded an effort” to block the necessary permit, Gott said.
“I had to go before City Council and establish to them that I was qualified to get the special use permit,” Gott told the four commissioners after Commissioner Brian Berger asked her to explain the situation.
Caldwell over the phone Friday expressed an interest in preserving old Wilmington homes for residential purposes.
When asked directly by Commissioner Jason Thompson, Gott said firmly she does indeed live at 602 Chestnut. She noted earlier in the meeting that she and her husband own 20-30 properties in New Hanover and surrounding counties, some of which are rentals, some of which are undeveloped.
But Chairman Barfield had another concern: Gott’s husband, who supposedly lives at the Chestnut Street house, is registered to vote in Brunswick County and has cast ballots there since 2008. Barfield said he “could not fathom” how that jibed.
Looking around the room, he said, “Can somebody help me with that, please? Somebody?”
Asked his perspective, McFadyen said that if Gott’s husband—Johnson—is trying to claim the Chestnut Street home as his primary domicile, “he’s voting out of a county of his residence. But, as the records show, he’s claiming Brunswick County as his residence.”
Gott told commissioners that she did not realize her husband was registered to vote in Brunswick County until yesterday. “He is planning on getting that changed over to New Hanover County,” she said.
GOP Chairwoman Amoroso said she’s going to rely on county staff to formally contact her party with further direction and that she would discuss the situation with fellow leaders. It comes at a tough time, she added.
“I’ll have to talk to my board and see where we go from here,” said Amoroso. “We’re in an election cycle. There’s a lot going on.”
Contact Ben Brown at [email protected] or (910) 772-6335. On Twitter: @benbrownmedia
