Bumped Milwaukee County executive candidates ask court to restore their names to the ballot

Alison Dirr
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Milwaukee County executive candidates, from left, former state Sen. Jim Sullivan, Glendale Mayor Bryan Kennedy and Milwaukee County Board Chairman Theo Lipscomb.

Two disqualified candidates for Milwaukee County executive will take their case to a judge Friday, one day after the county is expected to start printing ballots that don't include them.

The two candidates, former state Sen. Jim Sullivan and Glendale Mayor Bryan Kennedy, asked the court to intervene Wednesday, a day after the Wisconsin Elections Commission ordered their names be removed from the ballot for both the Feb. 18 primary and April 7 general election because of a problem with their nomination papers.

Sullivan and Kennedy were among six candidates who filed to replace outgoing County Executive Chris Abele.

They are asking Circuit Judge Kevin Martens to conduct a hearing finding that Tuesday's decision from the Wisconsin Elections Commission violated state law and order that their names appear on the Feb. 18 ballot.

They argue that the state law dealing with the collection of nominating signatures is discretionary, not mandatory; that the Wisconsin Elections Commission erroneously interpreted state law; and that the commission violated Sullivan's and Kennedy's constitutionally guaranteed right to due process by not giving them the opportunity to participate in the proceedings. 

The campaigns also argued that they had been assured the hired circulators were not working for any other Milwaukee County executive candidates, the circulators were not aware of any law limiting the ability to circulate nomination papers for only one candidate, and that the contested signatures are from qualified voters who followed the nomination process correctly.

They also are seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the removal of their names from the primary ballot before a judge can hold a hearing this week.

They're up against a Monday deadline for county clerks to deliver ballots and supplies to municipal clerks for the spring primary. 

The Milwaukee County Election Commission held a last-minute meeting Wednesday morning to redetermine the order in which the remaining candidates will appear on the Feb. 18 primary ballot.

On Wednesday, ballots were being sent to the printer. They won't include Sullivan's and Kennedy's names, in compliance with the Wisconsin Elections Commission decision, Milwaukee County Elections Director Julietta Henry said.

Printing of a limited number of ballots is scheduled to begin Thursday, allowing for ballots to be delivered to municipal clerks' offices in time for the Monday deadline.

A hearing before Martens was scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday to address the court filing.

Once there is a court decision, the entire order of ballots will be printed.

If anything should change with Kennedy's and Sullivan's statuses on the ballot, anyone who has voted absentee before new ballots are printed will be sent a new ballot.

The lawsuit names as defendants the Wisconsin Elections Commission, the Milwaukee County Election Commission and Milwaukee County Board Chairman Theodore Lipscomb Sr.

Lipscomb, who is also running for county executive, challenged signatures they had filed and called for their removal from the ballot. He argued that regulators needed to invalidate nominating signatures Sullivan and Kennedy had submitted because their campaigns had violated state law by using the same people to collect signatures as had state Rep. David Crowley.

Those circulating nomination papers for a candidate sign a statement saying they intend to support that particular candidate.

The problem occurred because all three campaigns had outsourced the task of  gathering signatures, something that is becoming more common in bigger campaigns.

The three campaigns unwittingly gave part of the job to community organizer Simon Warren, owner of the Sweet Black Coffee shop. Warren then paid the same individuals to go out and collect signatures for the different campaigns.

A complaint was not filed against Crowley because the circulators collected nomination papers for his campaign first.

The law says if a circulator collects nomination papers for two candidates for the same office, the papers with earlier signatures are considered valid. The later ones are rejected.

In both cases Tuesday, the state commission struck enough signatures to put the candidates below the 2,000 valid signature threshold to get on the ballot.

The commission found that 1,001 of the 2,450 signatures submitted by Sullivan should be struck as invalid, leaving a total of 1,449 valid signatures.

It also found that 844 of the 2,684 signatures submitted by Kennedy should be struck as invalid, leaving him with 1,840 valid signatures.

"Any aggrieved party may appeal this decision to circuit court no later than 30 days after the issuance of this decision," the decision states.

Contact Alison Dirr at 414-224-2383 or adirr@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.