He graduated from Union High School in 1970 and earned a Bachelor of Science in economics and accounting at North Carolina State University.

[2] Merritt, a member of the Republican Party, ran for a seat on the Wake County Board of Commissioners in 1994, defeating Democrat Thurston Debnam.

[3] Merrit challenged Democratic incumbent Ralph Campbell Jr. in the 2000 election for the office of North Carolina State Auditor.

Campbell collected a significant amount of his campaign contributions from Atlanta-area donors, where his brother Bill was serving as mayor.

He also began an audit into the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles to investigate the strength of its driver's license application process, and declared his support for the adoption of the Taxpayer Bill of Rights and zero-based budgeting for all state agencies.

[12] In 2007 Merritt convinced the Senate to delay passage of a measure which would permit citizens to register to vote and cast a ballot immediately before an election, citing a risk of voter fraud.

[15] His office later found that Perdue and State Treasurer Richard H. Moore had misused official resources to support their own political campaigns.

[17] The audit was released days before the 2008 state elections, leading Merritt's opponent, Democrat Beth Wood, to accuse him of politicizing his office.

On January 1, 2013, he was appointed to the North Carolina State Ethics Commission by Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger.