An Anne Arundel County judge on Monday ordered House of Delegates candidate John Dove Jr. removed from the ballot on the grounds he doesn’t live in the district he seeks to represent — the latest in a Democratic Party family feud that also presents important legal questions.

Dove’s attorney, Tiffany Alston, said she would appeal immediately to the Supreme Court of Maryland.

Alston insisted that Dove has every intention of moving into a family home in the district, and he has until early May to do so, according to the state constitution, which sets a residency deadline at six months before the election. Dove’s team has maintained that the six-month mark counts back from the November general election.

After the court hearing in Annapolis, Alston — who also is a state delegate — charged that the challenge is politically motivated by the incumbent, Del. Gary Simmons, and said Democratic voters should have a chance to choose between the two men in June’s primary election.

“It is unfortunate that any person running in a democracy will go through these lengths to get rid of a challenger, especially when they themselves are embattled,” Alston said, referencing a news report that raised questions about Simmons’ spending from his campaign account.

Neither Dove nor Simmons spoke to reporters after the hearing in Annapolis. Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Thompson ruled from the bench in favor of Simmons’ request to disqualify Dove from the ballot.

Dove is hoping to unseat Simmons to represent District 12B, an awkwardly shaped district in northern Anne Arundel that includes parts of Hanover, Linthicum, Brooklyn Park, Glen Burnie and Pasadena.

The district’s voters are 47% Democratic and 26% Republican, with the rest unaffiliated or belonging to third parties. That gives the winner of the June Democratic primary an advantage in the general election.

The courtroom was packed with family members and politicians alike who were drawn into the rare legal dispute over a candidate’s residency. State Sen. Clarence Lam, Sen. Shaneka Henson, Del. J. Sandy Bartlett and Del. Mike Rogers, all Democrats representing parts of Anne Arundel County, were in the courtroom.

Dove spent significant time on the stand, often grinning and appearing bemused by the questions from Simmons’ attorney, Robbie Leonard. At one point, Leonard instructed Dove to pull out his driver’s license to show the address on it.

Dove acknowledged that he’s been living at a home in Gambrills, outside the district, but said he intends to renovate and move into a Pasadena home that his father-in-law built decades ago.

“That is where I plan to live. That is where I planted my flag,” Dove said under questioning from Leonard.

Dove and his wife, Rhonda Caldwell-Dove, testified that they want to make the home safer for her father, who currently lives with them in Gambrills. An architect they hired testified that she’s been paid to draw up plans for the renovation, but construction has not begun.

Dove said he recently signed a contract with a real estate agent to put the yet-to-be-listed Gambrills home up for sale.

Ahead of filing as a candidate for office in late February, Dove changed his voter registration and driver’s license to the Pasadena address.

But a private investigator hired by Simmons and Lam testified that several days’ worth of surveillance on both properties turned up no evidence that Dove lived at the Pasadena house. The investigator saw Dove driving to work from the Gambrills house, and a process server served the legal challenge to Dove at the Gambrills home.

When Leonard asked Dove where he had slept the night before, he answered that he’d slept at the Pasadena house. Leonard asked: Why?

“Because I knew you were going to ask me that question,” Dove answered.

Dove’s attorney Alston argued that her client has met the legal requirements to run, being both a resident and having established a “domicile” at the Pasadena address. Whether Dove really lives in the district is “truly a political question” best decided by voters.

“We ask you not take the voters’ choice away,” Dove told the judge.

Thompson said that while it’s clear that Dove intended to move to the Pasadena address, he never fulfilled the intent.

Thompson said he believes Dove spends a “great preponderance of his time” at the Gambrills home.

“I think the timing just didn’t work out,” the judge said.

This was the second time Dove and Simmons were in Thompson’s courtroom in the case. The first time, on March 16, Thompson ruled that it was premature for Simmons to challenge Dove’s residency because it was not yet six months before the November general election.

The Supreme Court of Maryland disagreed on March 30, saying it was “ripe” for the Circuit Court to consider the residency case. The high court ordered the Circuit Court to hold a hearing and make a decision by noon Monday.

With Dove’s immediate appeal, the case heads back to the Supreme Court, which scheduled arguments for April 13.

Elections officials are facing an April 20 deadline to finalize primary election ballots.

Mail ballots will be sent to vote-by-mail voters beginning in May, followed by in-person early voting June 11-18 and traditional Election Day voting on June 23.

The winner of the Democratic primary for House District 12B will face Republican Blair L. Brannock.