Letter from LaNasa to New Hanover County

North Carolina statute 163-182.14 says: "A copy of the final decision of the State Board of Elections on an election protest shall be served on the parties personally or through delivery by U.S. mail or a designated delivery service authorized under 26 U.S.C. § 7502(f)(2) if that delivery provides a record of the date and time of delivery to the address provided by the party." (emphasis mine)

The latter part of that statute is where the controversy exists. Justin LaNasa, a successful businessman and former county commission hopeful, has been embattled with the county and state Boards of Election for some time now, challenging the legitimacy of  New Hanover County's sales tax referendum that appeared on the ballot May 4th of this year; barely passing voter approval. LaNasa's argument has consistently been that county officials were aggressively advocating versus educating the public regarding the facts behind the referendum.

The latest chapter in this sordid tale is the fact that in order to comply with state law, the Board of Elections had to serve LaNasa with official election results  in accordance with the statute spelled out above. The delivery of such a letter must provide "a record of the date and time of delivery", which would indicate that one must send such a notice via registered and/or certified mail. However, LaNasa's letter arrived to him via regular First Class mail, sans the recorded date and time delivered stamp. Whoops!

Here is a copy of the letter sent from LaNasa to county officials regarding this matter:

Justin LaNasa Order