(The Center Square) – The Wisconsin Elections Commission removed two out of 11 challenged candidates from the primary ballot.
The commission removed Democrat Andrew Beck, who was running for U.S. Representative to Congressional District 5, and Democrat David Heffel, who was running for Wisconsin Assembly District 70.
Beck needed at least 1,000 valid signatures oto qualify for ballot access, but 44 out of 1,018 collected signatures had missing or illegible information concerning names and addresses. Because Beck submitted a corrected affidavit three days after the filing deadline, the commission determined the 44 signatures were invalid, leaving Beck with too few valid signatures to qualify.
Heffel listed one address listed as his residence on his declaration of candidacy and a different address as his residence on all of his nomination papers, which he circulated himself. The commission determined that rendered all of Heffel’s petition signatures invalid, disqualifying him.
“Even if Mr. Heffel actually resides at one of those addresses, he likely has the wrong municipality listed. Staff were able to confirm this for his declaration of candidacy, where 12363 US Highway 12 is actually in the town of La Grange and not in the city of Tomah,” the commission said.
Heffel submitted a response to the challenge, arguing “these mistakes should not invalidate my viability for candidacy. Having the wrong address, and municipality on these papers should not matter, as they would still fall within the district that I wish to represent…I believe that enforcing these complaints and removing me from the ballot would restrict the voters [sic] opportunity and rights to cast a ballot for the candidate of their choice.”
The commission rejected petition challenges against the nine other candidates regarding template issues, improper replacements for office titles, the validity of individual signatures, and the header of a nomination paper.
The nine candidates approved for ballot access are:
Tim Rogers, Republican for the U.S. Representative to Congressional District 4 raceTony Wied, Republican for the U.S. Representative to Congressional District 8 in a special electionSteve Rydzewski, Republican for the Wisconsin Assembly District 37Dora Drake, Democrat for the Wisconsin Senate District 4, general electionAlexia Unertl, Democrat for the Wisconsin Assembly District 4 raceDeanna Alexander, Democrat for the Wisconsin Assembly District 12 raceAngela Kennedy, Democrat for the Wisconsin Assembly District 18 raceKelly Clark, Democrat for the Wisconsin Assembly District 33 race Elsa Duranceau, Democrat for the U.S. Representative for Congressional District 7 race
“During its rounds of review, Commission staff determined that these minor issues were not detrimental to the sufficiency of the papers, and that the papers substantially complied with all requirements under the applicable laws and administrative code provisions,” the commission said.
