NEW HANOVER COUNTY — A petition to terminate the New Hanover County elections director stands. After DeNay Harris’ short two-month tenure with the county, she was put on paid suspension but as of June 9 her employment has been severed.
A letter from the North Carolina State Board of Elections informed the county of the finality Monday.
In March, the New Hanover County Board of Elections voted unanimously on a petition to fire Harris, though the reasons why have not been shared formally due to personnel laws. However, reporting from Port City Daily and WHQR indicated a falling-out among the director, the local board of elections and county staff during her short time leading the primary election.
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According to a letter sent to the county on June 9 and signed by the State Board of Elections’ Executive Director Sam Hayes, the state board had more than two weeks to defer his decision agreeing with the county board’s petition to fire Harris.
“The State Board did not defer the decision within the 20-day period. Therefore, pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 163-35.1(a), my decision to approve the petition and terminate Director Harris became final at the end of the day on June 9, 2026,” the letter indicates.
The letter was sent to all current board members on the New Hanover BOE, Harris and her attorney, Gary Shipman of Shipman Wright & Moore, LLP.
Shipman did not immediately respond to Port City Daily by press about Harris’ next steps, though he previously told the news outlet she would be “keeping options open.” Harris had to respond to the county’s petition, which she did opposing her firing in early May. Shipman did not detail what was in her response at the time, but called the county move “clearly pretextual, retaliatory, and unsupported by reliable evidence.”
Harris’ job came under fire back in March following the primary election, when the director accused the county and some board of elections members for bullying, retaliation and email tampering. However, a preliminary report of a third-party audit on Harris’ computer and Microsoft account did not return evidence of outside tampering.
She also asserted that county staff micro-managed her work flow and interfered with secured election facilities, having complained to the state BOE and formally to HR at the county level.
Harris is the second director in less than a year to exit the county’s BOE director position. Her predecessor, Rae Hunter-Havens, abruptly resigned last fall after enduring a harried relationship with the county. Hunter-Havens stepped back “due to health concerns” and was paid $70,000 as a consultant through March 1.
The county continued to pay Harris’ her salary of $115,000 annually until her termination.
Port City Daily asked the county, elections staff and elections board chair Jamie Getty next steps in the hiring of a new director as midterms approach, but did not hear back by press; this will be updated upon response.
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