Steve Johnson, the pharmacy owner disqualified from running for Aberdeen mayor because of claims he doesn’t live in the city, is going to court today to try to get on the ballot.

Johnson sought an injunction from the Harford County Circuit Court to get back in the running for one of Aberdeen’s four City Council seats in the Nov. 6 municipal elections.

“We’re hoping the judge will hear our case tomorrow,” Johnson said Tuesday.

Because he was not officially a candidate, Johnson was unable to speak at an Oct. 10 forum. But he said he has been laying the groundwork to play catch-up if the judge rules in his favor. He has received permission from homeowners to post signs in their yards and gone door-to-door explaining the complications surrounding his candidacy.

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Johnson owns two properties — one inside city limits on Post Road, and a larger one outside the city on Ford’s Lane. Maryland state property records list the Ford’s Lane address as his primary residence, but Johnson contends he lives at the smaller Post Road property.

A voter registration filed in July puts Johnson and his wife at Post Road, but City Council President Mike Hiob said he’s repeatedly driven his daughter — a friend of Johnson’s daughter — to the Ford’s Lane address.

Despite his absence from the ballot, Johnson has inspired more attacks than some of the actual candidates. A letter went out last weekend asking voters to petition against him and Darlington-based developer Art Helton, who also has addresses inside and outside the city and is registered to vote in city elections.

“If you were a city leader, I don’t understand why you’d want to attack a big economic engine like that,” Johnson said in Helton’s defense. “Even before BRAC was mentioned, Art Helton was investing in Aberdeen. He put millions back on the tax rolls.”

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com