Candidate bumped off ballot for County Board District 12 seat after nomination paperwork error

Vanessa Swales, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·3 min read

Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Juan Miguel Martinez will now run unopposed in the County Board race for the District 12 seat, after his lone opponent, Ryan Antczak, was thrown off the ballot on Friday.

The Milwaukee County Election Commission determined Antczak would not be granted ballot access after county staff flagged that he completed his paperwork on partisan nomination forms despite running for a nonpartisan office.

Antczak previously ran for election to the Wisconsin State Assembly to represent District 9, but lost in the general election on Nov. 8, 2022. He ran as a Republican.

"If you want to run for an office that makes the laws, you need to follow the laws," Martinez's election attorney Michael Maistelman said. "Clearly, our opponent failed to do that."

Milwaukee County races set for Feb. 20 primary election

The County Board could see a major reshuffle this spring, with Supervisors Liz Sumner, Ryan Clancy, Peter Burgelis, Anthony J. Staskunas deciding not to seek re-elections and several face-offs in district races in the primary election.

  • District 1: Anne O'Connor, co-founder of Bay Bridge, a Whitefish Bay organization that works to raise awareness about racial and cultural bias, is the lone candidate seeking to replace Sumner.

  • District 3: Incumbent Sheldon A. Wasserman is facing a challenge from public defender Alexander Kostal.

  • District 4: Advocate Ronald Jansen and community organizer Jack Eckblad are seeking the seat that will be vacated by Ryan Clancy, who is also a state representative.

  • District 9: Real estate agent Danelle Kenney filed papers to run against incumbent Patti Logsdon.

  • District 14: Caroline Gómez-Tom, who has represented the district since May, could be challenged by a familiar face, Angel Sanchez, who also ran against her in the special election to fill the seat. Sanchez has until Jan. 5 at 5 p.m. to submit his statement of economic interests.

  • District 15: Sky Z. Capriolo, a senior marketing manager, was the lone candidate seeking the seat being vacated by Burgelis, who is running for Common Council.

  • District 16: Justin Bielinski, communications director for state Sen. Chris Larson, was the lone candidate for the seat being vacated by Staskunas.

  • District 17: Supervisor Steve F. Taylor, who until recently failed to disclose his employment in his ethics filings, could also face a challenger, Andrew Matias. Matias nomination paperwork, however, has been flagged for deficiencies, which could be cured with an affidavit, according to the Elections Commission. He has until 5 p.m. today to submit the affidavit.

  • District 18: Two people have filed papers to challenge incumbent Deanna Alexander. They are teacher and community organizer John Martin "Marty" Hagedorn and Citizen Action of Wisconsin organizer Brandon Williford. Alexander has until Jan. 5 at 5 p.m. to submit her statement of economic interests to formally be certified for ballot placement. A Feb. 20 primary will narrow the field to two.

Now the handful of incumbents on the County Board running unopposed include Willie Johnson, Jr., in District 2; Sequanna Taylor in District 5; Shawn Rolland in District 6; Felesia Martin in District 7; Steve Shea in District 8; Board Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson in District 10; Kathleen Vincent in District 11; Juan Miguel Martinez in District 12 and Priscilla E. Coggs-Jones in District 13.

Contact Vanessa Swales at 414-308-5881 or at vswales@gannett.com. Follow her on X @Vanessa_Swales.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: County Board candidate bumped off ballot after filing wrong paperwork