Coronado City Council candidate and Navy reserve pilot Ricky Hoyt has officially made Coronado his permanent place of residence, registering to vote on the island just days before he turned in his candidacy papers.
He also registered as a Republican, after having previously told The Coronado News he had always voted as an independent in the past.
Hoyt, 35, launched his maiden run for office after transitioning from active duty to the reserves earlier this year.
He said he’s lived in Coronado since 2015 when he was stationed at Naval Air Station North Island, renting a home with roommates. He had a three-year stint where he was assigned to Arlington, Texas, but said that he flew into Coronado nearly every month during that time.
Hoyt said he considered Coronado his home through those years, but kept his permanent address at his parents’ home in New Hampshire.
I grew up in New Hampshire, where my parents still live, and maintained it as my legal domicile throughout my active-duty Navy career, as is common practice among service members and permitted pursuant to federal law.
Coronado City Council candidate Ricky Hoyt
“I grew up in New Hampshire, where my parents still live, and maintained it as my legal domicile throughout my active-duty Navy career, as is common practice among service members and permitted pursuant to federal law,” Hoyt wrote in a letter to the editor published in The Coronado News.
Hoyt’s public records showed him living at an address, 760 Alameda Boulevard, where he is not listed as the property owner. He explained that it was an address he was renting for the last few months.
According to Hoyt in a letter published in The Coronado News, his residency was misrepresented with false accusations. The criticism, some of which circulated social media and claimed there was a problem with his voter registration, prompted him to write a letter defending his case.
“(Military families’) children attend local schools, and they support local businesses and pay sales taxes — often for a decade or more, as I have,” Hoyt wrote. “Impugning those families and treating them as lesser members of our community is a disgraceful and shameful campaign tactic.”
In an interview, Hoyt said he and his wife recently bought a home on Adella Avenue, which he said is now his official residence.
Think about it, you get transferred so many times in the military … It would be such a pain to become a new citizen of every state you go to. Now I’m not active, so I need to, you know, register to vote somewhere and be a citizen of where I’m actually living.
Coronado City Council candidate Ricky Hoyt
“Think about it, you get transferred so many times in the military … It would be such a pain to become a new citizen of every state you go to,” Hoyt explained.
“Now I’m not active, so I need to, you know, register to vote somewhere and be a citizen of where I’m actually living.”
Hoyt is among four candidates running for two Coronado City Council seats in the Nov. 3 elections.
The City Council candidate registered to vote in Coronado at the beginning of August when he pulled his nomination papers, and City Clerk Kelsea Holian contacted the county’s registrar of voters and noticed he wasn’t registered at 760 Alameda Boulevard.
Hoyt refiled his papers after registering to vote at 760 Alameda, but said his information would have to be updated soon to show his move to Adella Avenue.
He said he has never voted in a Coronado election before.
In July, Hoyt identified himself as an independent, adding that he is fiscally and socially conservative. A few days later, on the voter registration form, he marked himself as a Republican.
But, yes, I am 100% registered as Republican for this race.
Coronado City Council candidate Ricky Hoyt
“When I was in New Hampshire … I’m pretty sure I voted as an independent,” Hoyt said this week. “But, yes, I am 100% registered as Republican for this race.”
Regardless of political affiliation, Hoyt added, he holds the notion that a “good idea is a good idea,” and “stands on its own merits.”
