A Mendocino County Superior Court judge has rejected a petition seeking to strike Eric Hart from the November ballot for the District 3 Board of Supervisors seat, ruling that Hart established his legal home in the district before the filing deadline despite his family's ownership of a second property outside it. The decision keeps the race intact as a two-candidate contest between Hart and Buffey Wright Bourassa, who together advanced out of a crowded June primary.
The petition came from Clay Romero, the third-place finisher in that primary, who argued that Hart's true domicile was actually a home the couple owns on Northview Drive, which sits in the 4th District rather than the 3rd. As reported by the Anderson Valley Advertiser, Romero called Hart's district registration a legal fiction and asked the court to strike Hart from the ballot and install Romero in his place. Romero filed the petition on July 24, invoking California Elections Code Section 13314.
Judge Ann Moorman ultimately found Hart's testimony believable and credible, concluding that Hart resides on Williams Ranch Road and intends to remain there. Hart and his wife rent an adjacent home on Williams Ranch Road, which sits within District 3, after signing the lease in October 2025 — an agreement that includes an option to buy. According to the same account, Hart said he sleeps, cooks, and returns from trips at that address, and he and his wife moved furniture and clothing there shortly after signing the lease, with Hart sleeping there within days.
How the Judge Weighed the Evidence
Moorman's ruling walked through several pieces of evidence that Romero raised, and rejected most of them. She excluded a claim based on the absence of family-court records, excluded statements attributed to unidentified people, and excluded Romero's argument that an unreturned mail ballot showed Hart was not present enough to receive it. The judge also dismissed Registrar of Voters Katrina Bartolomie as a target of the writ, noting that the registrar had no duty to investigate whether Hart actually lived at his declared domicile.
Bartolomie had verified that the address on Hart's candidate papers was within the district and that Hart was registered there, the Advertiser's report notes. Hart registered to vote at the Williams Ranch Road address in November 2025. Romero also pointed to Hart's driver's license, which was not shown to list the Northview address, but Romero later conceded that his driver's-license assertion resulted from oversight and clerical error, adding that he did not actually have Hart's driver's-license information. Hart renewed his license in June 2026.
The Northview Property and the Homeowner's Exemption
Romero claimed county records showed a homeowner's exemption on the Northview property as of early June 2026, using that as evidence that Hart's real domicile remained in the 4th District. Per Hart's account, it was his wife who held the homeowner's exemption on the Northview property, and the couple has since removed that exemption. Hart said he uses the Northview house as an office and guest space rather than as his residence, and the 2021 redistricting process had placed the Northview Drive parcel in the 4th District. Hart and his wife moved from Oakland to Mendocino County in 2019.
Under the legal standard Moorman applied, a domicile continues until a person establishes a new one through an actual move paired with intent to remain, and retaining secondary property does not by itself invalidate a new domicile — a standard consistent with California election law guidance on candidate residence requirements described by Vote Madera. Under Elections Code Section 13314, a petitioner seeking to modify ballot listings must show both a statutory or constitutional error and that court relief would not substantially interfere with the conduct of the election, a threshold detailed by Justia Law. Moorman said Romero had to meet that same two-part test, and she shifted the burden of proving a timely domicile change onto Hart himself, ultimately ruling he established his domicile in the district before the eligibility date.
Warnings, Appeals, and What Comes Next
Moorman also warned that submitting inaccurate sworn information in election proceedings can risk sanctions, including dismissal of an entire declaration. She told Romero he could still seek review in the Court of Appeal, and said she would put her decision in writing. Hart said he was grateful for the ruling, telling the Advertiser that the court considered all the evidence and issued a decision. Romero said he was disappointed with the outcome but would remain active in politics.
The dispute traces back to a tight four-way primary in the district, which covers the inland northern reaches of Mendocino County including Willits, Laytonville, and Covelo. The seat opened up after longtime Supervisor John Haschak announced in December 2025 that he would not seek re-election after serving since 2019. Certified results from Mendocino County Elections show Bourassa finished first with 1,497 votes, or 32.75 percent, with Hart close behind at 1,446 votes, or 31.63 percent. Romero took third with 1,030 votes, 22.53 percent, while software developer and cannabis dispensary owner Russell Green finished fourth with 597 votes.
Because no candidate cleared a majority, the top two vote-getters — Bourassa and Hart — advanced to the November runoff. Bourassa, a member of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians who serves as the restorative justice program manager for the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office, was raised in Ukiah and on the Pinoleville Pomo Nation reservation. Hart previously served on the board of the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council and chaired the Ridgewood Fire Safe Council near Willits. Romero, a self-employed Willits resident who moved to the area in 1979 and graduated from Laytonville High School, had also run for the same seat in 2022. Countywide turnout in the June primary reached 48.78 percent, with 26,443 of the county's 54,207 registered voters casting ballots, though District 3 turnout in the prior 2022 cycle had fallen below 40 percent.
With the legal challenge resolved, Hart remains on the November ballot for 3rd District supervisor, setting up a two-way contest against Bourassa to succeed Haschak in representing Willits, Laytonville, and Covelo on the Board of Supervisors.
