Candidate for County Board District 17 seat tossed from ballot over fraud concerns

Milwaukee County Board Supervisor Steve F. Taylor will run unopposed for the District 17 seat after his sole challenger, Andrew Matias, was thrown off the ballot over potential election fraud.

Matias, an Oak Creek-based Realtor who has worked as a fire lieutenant/EMT with the Milwaukee Fire Department, had two pages of nomination signatures flagged due to conflicting dates signed by the circulators and signatories.

After Matias submitted affidavits to cure the signatures, the Milwaukee County Election Commission said there were conflicting affidavits submitted by the circulators that Matias said he did not authorize.

"I would never authorize that — that is dishonest, that is unethical and I don't play that game," he said during a commission hearing. "If I'm going to do anything, I'm going to do it the correct way, I'm going to do it the right way, and if I make a mistake along the way I'm going to take accountability for it," Matias told commissioners virtually Tuesday.

Attorney Michael Maistelman, who was representing Taylor, told the Journal Sentinel: "Our opponent has bigger problems to worry about than getting on the ballot. Falsifying a nomination paper can get you 3 1/2 years in prison."

The District Attorney's Office will investigate the matter, a source said.

Matias could not be reached for further comment.

Efforts to cure signatures ended in possible investigation

After submitting his nomination paperwork to get onto the ballot, records show pages signed and dated by a circulator did not match the dates of a number of the nomination signatures.

"I very much understand I made an error along the way in trying to make sure I was doing everything appropriately, and, in turn, this is where it leads me to try and clarify and clear myself of any wrongdoing in this situation," Matias said.

Matias had until Friday of last week to cure the deficiencies with an affidavit, according to Michelle Hawley, Milwaukee County's elections director.

At that point, Matias had 174 valid signatures, 26 short of the required minimum to get ballot placement.

Despite submitting the required affidavits to cure the signatures, two of the affidavits filed to remedy one page "were in conflict with each other," Hawley told the commission.

The two circulators of the pages of signatures submitted affidavits indicating that they certified the collection of those nomination papers. Matias also submitted separate affidavits to cure the signatures.

Matias also said he does not know who asked the two circulators to submit separate affidavits.

"Now, when I accepted the opportunity to go out and circulate signatures to get my name on the ballot for county supervisor it was very last minute. I am very new to this whole process," Matias said, adding his only previous run for office was for a school board seat.

"This is a very new and trying process for me," he said, adding that he had not been paying close enough attention when people were signing the nomination paperwork when he was collecting signatures.

Who's running?

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, is up against a familiar face, Angel Sanchez, who also ran against her in the special election to fill the seat last year.

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 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. A Feb. 20 primary will narrow the field to two.

Incumbents who are 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, Priscilla E. Coggs-Jones in District 13, and now Taylor in District 17.

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 thrown off ballot over fraud concerns