Yolo County Superior Court Judge Samuel McAdam is expected to issue a ruling on Monday in a lawsuit over ballot arguments regarding Measure C — the Davis school district’s parcel tax measure, which will go before local voters in an all-mail election Feb. 6 to March 6.

Measure C is a proposed five-year parcel tax that would charge local homeowners $320 per year to support a long list of classroom programs in the Davis school district.

Former Yolo County Clerk-Recorder Tony Bernhard (who served from 1987 to 2003, and then decided not to seek another term) filed a lawsuit in early January, seeking to delete a portion of the ballot argument against Measure C, which was submitted by Davis residents Jose Granda and Thomas Randall. Bernhard objected to portions of Granda and Randall’s argument regarding the way that vote-by-mail elections are conducted by the Yolo County Elections Office.

Granda and Randall’s ballot argument calls vote-by-mail elections “a questionable process” and asserts that the vote-by-mail process “eliminates. … vote counting with both sides present” —  statements that the Yolo County Elections Office disputes. Bernhard’s lawsuit contends Granda and Randall’s anti-Measure C arguments  seek “to impugn the integrity of the election process which (Bernhard) has spent his career upholding” and that several of Granda and Randall’s statements are “false, misleading and inconsistent” with elections code “because they are neither for or against the bond measures which is the subject matter of the election.”

Bernhard’s suit technically targets Yolo County Clerk-Recorder Freddie Oakley, seeking to empower her to delete portions of the ballot arguments that Granda and Randall submitted. But Granda has been the one in court defending the ballot argument he co-authored.

McAdam got the case on Jan. 12 after another judge recused himself. At that time, McAdam told both parties to try to negotiate mutually acceptable compromise language, and come back for another court date on Jan. 20.

When the parties gathered again in court on Friday, they told McAdam that they had been unable to reach an agreement on compromise language. The case also took on a new wrinkle when attorney Mike Nolan — who was a candidate in the November 2010 Davis school board election — appeared representing Randall. Nolan contended that Bernhard’s lawsuit should be quashed because Randall had not been properly served papers when Bernhard’s lawsuit was filed. Randall was not in court on Friday, nor was he present in court on Jan. 12.

McAdam indicated that he would consider Nolan’s argument, and make a ruling on Monday on the points raised Friday by Nolan. At that point, Nolan left the courtroom.

Since Granda, Bernhard and several other persons related to the case were present in court on Friday, McAdam took some testimony regarding Bernhard’s lawsuit. Granda, Bernhard and Yolo County Elections Department staffer Tom Stanionis spoke.

After hearing from these three, McAdam indicated that he is “not going to strike the entire language” that Bernhard objected to. McAdam told Bernhard that while his statement that vote-by-mail elections are the most secure way to conduct an election (since voter signatures on mail-in envelopes are individually compared with signatures on voter registration cards) were interesting, Bernhard’s statement is nonetheless “an opinion … You might be able to convince 95 percent of the people (that it is true), but it is an opinion.”

But McAdam also told Bernhard that it is possible that some of his other objections to Granda and Randall’s ballot arguments might be valid.

“I’m going to take the original language (submitted by Granda and Randall) and either say it’s all valid, or strike certain language,” McAdam said.

If the judge rules in this aspect of the case, he is expected to do so on Monday as well.

Not present or participating in any of the proceedings in the case thus far are any representatives of the Davis Joint Unified School District.

The case will resume on Monday at noon in Department 14 of Yolo County Superior Court.

— Reach Jeff Hudson at [email protected] or (530) 747-8055.

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