PITTSBURGH — After a five-hour hearing in Pittsburgh, attorney Jennifer Gilliland Vanasdale should hear “very soon” whether she'll be allowed to continue as a candidate for judge on Butler County's Court of Common Pleas.

Vanasdale faces challenges to her candidacy filed by pairs of Butler County residents from both major political parties. The dispute is over the address Vanasdale listed on the paperwork she submitted to file for the election.

Her challengers claim that Vanasdale resides at an address in Seven Fields, not the Cranberry Township address listed on said forms, and that Vanasdale wanted the different address for political reasons.

Therefore, their attorney Clifford Levine argued, her name ought to be scratched from the May 21 primary ballot.

“This was a very immediate response, immediately after the campaign was announced,” Levine said.

Vanasdale, through her attorney Lawrence Tabas, agreed that she's currently staying in Seven Fields, but she says it's only a temporary residence while her family renovates and moves into the Cranberry home.

She'll be living in Cranberry Township at the time of the primary, she said, not Seven Fields.

“There wasn't even a judgeship open when I started looking for a home,” Vanasdale said.

The opposing sides presented their cases Thursday to Judge Michael Wojcik. At the hearing's end, Wojcik said he'd take their arguments under advisement and that an opinion would be issued “very soon.”

Much of the arguing revolved around Vanasdale's intent for moving.

She said she and her husband had been looking for a new home since before the judge seat became open. They sprang on it, she said, simply because it met their criteria, and a real estate agent provided supporting testimony during the hearing.

Levine made an opposing case: Vanasdale bought the house shortly after the election was announced because a Cranberry Township address on the ballot draws more votes than a Seven Fields one, he alleged.

Levine called Michael Mikus to the stand as an expert witness. Mikus, a political consultant, provided testimony suggesting that in elections like local judge races, the lack of voter interest and engagement means simple factors like where a candidate is from can heavily impact a race.

Cranberry Township, being the most populous part of the county, is a politically optimal residence on a Butler County ballot, he said.

“People from Cranberry would be more likely to vote for somebody with Cranberry by their name,” Mikus said. “It's the hometown effect.”

Though Tabas repeatedly objected, Wojcik did agree to allow Mikus to testify as an expert on politics. Wojcik said he'd decide how much weight the testimony carries.

In questioning, Vanasdale fielded several questions about the physical status of her home. Her furniture and dishware remain in Seven Fields as renovations continue in Cranberry, she said, though her refrigerator is empty as she's stopped buying food there. She and her husband sleep in Seven Fields still.

Utilities are turned on at the Cranberry residence, Tabas pointed out, and the gas bill for the residence is higher than in years past under previous owners, suggesting they've been spending plenty of time there.

Vanasdale and her husband's voter registrations and driver's licenses are switched to the new address, she said. Levine argued that this occurred oddly hurriedly, as Vanasdale retains a driver for much of her day-to-day travel.

She pointed to a specific part of the voter registration process as reason why she used the Cranberry Township office. The requisite form asked where she would reside 30 days before the election, she said, which will be Cranberry Township. Then, the election paperwork asked for her precinct information, which has been changed over to Cranberry Township.

The two homes are about 1.8 miles apart and are both in Butler County. Vanasdale said she'll be fully in the new home by April 16. The sale finalized in December.

Levine attempted a few lines of questioning that Wojcik either seemed unimpressed by or deemed altogether unrelated. Suggestions that Vanasdale had publicly misrepresented the extent of her work for Crystal Starnes in Starnes' case against Butler County President Judge Thomas Doerr were waived away as the supporting paperwork evidence seemed lacking to Wojcik.

Whatever the final judgment, Vanasdale has lots of money on the line. She testified that her new home cost slightly over $300,000 to buy and is undergoing about $300,000 in renovations.

Wojcik asked her how much she had spent and plans to spend on the election. She's spent about $150,000, she said, and may spend another $250,000 to $300,000.

Tabas asked that the court throw out the challenges, or allow Vanasdale to amend her paperwork.