A show cause hearing asking Nye County Commission District 3 candidate Harley Kulkin to prove his residency has been rescheduled for 2 p.m. July 30 in Fifth District Court in Pahrump.

Judge Joseph T. Bonaventure of the Eighth Judicial District, Department 6 in Las Vegas, will hear the case.

Kulkin's case had originally been scheduled for June 30, but he filed a challenge to having his case heard by Fifth District Judge Robert Lane. He complained about the one-month delay in rescheduling the case.

However, it won't affect the primary ballot, as Kulkin filed as a Democrat, who will go to the November general election ballot if he remains a candidate.

Nye County Clerk Sam Merlino said the ballot for the general election is usually printed right after the primary, which is Aug. 12 this year.

Kulkin ran for District 1 commissioner and lost to incumbent Roberta "Midge" Carver in 2004. At that time he listed his address as 8825 N. Linda St.

This year, Kulkin filed a voter registration change of address April 8, declaring his new residence was 2530 Tough Boy St. and filed his declaration of candidacy using that address May 9.

Mark Reasbeck filed a complaint that Kulkin only moved a trailer into the Tough Boy RV Park and presented evidence showing he only stayed in the trailer 10 hours during a four-week period in May. Reasbeck alleges the RV space was continuously vacant from April 11 through April 18.

State law says no person may be a candidate for any office unless, for at least the 30 days immediately preceding the date of the close of filing of declarations of candidacy or acceptances of candidacy for the office which he seeks, he has, in accordance with Nevada Revised Statute 281.050, actually, as opposed to constructively, resided in the state, district, county, township or other area prescribed by law to which the office pertains and if elected, of which he will have jurisdiction.

NRS 281.050 refers to "actual residence" where a person maintains a permanent habitation.

Kulkin was eager to reveal his legal argument. He referred to a June 13 Nevada Supreme Court decision which upheld the candidacy of Michael Montero, a Reno resident running for Sixth District judge, which includes Lander, Humboldt and Pershing counties.

The opinion states, "The district court determined there was no constitutional or statutory requirement Montero, or any other candidate for district court judge, maintain his physical residence within the judicial district in which he was seeking office."

The court ruled for residency purposes the office of district court judge was "a state office" requiring residency only in Nevada.

"If elected he will have jurisdiction to hear cases in other judicial districts as well as in the Sixth Judicial District," the ruling states.

Supreme Court judges interpreted state senators, assembly members and state regents as "state officers," but the state law requires those candidates to have residency in their districts.

Kulkin said the ruling can apply to his case.

"You're a county commissioner. You have jurisdiction over the whole county. I only have to live in the county," Kulkin said.

The law also doesn't say anything about how often he lives in his home, he said.

"There's nothing specifically that says a commissioner has to live in the district he's running in," Kulkin said.

Kulkin also noted a Washoe District Court ruling last week that permitted Republican Trent Baldwin to run for an assembly district in Sparks, after moving out of his Reno home in April and into a rented room in Sun Valley.

Baldwin's wife and children remain in their Reno home. Baldwin obtained a sworn affidavit from his landlord, saying he eats, sleeps and pays rent in the apartment. Baldwin also testified he had no intention of returning to his Reno home.