This week, following the findings that the Milwaukee City Election Commission improperly drew names for ballot placement in five Aldermanic races and Georgia Pabst’s article, “Some races have names out of order on ballot”, Ray Harmon, candidate for City Council in District 9, made the following statement.
“After receiving the news that my name would no longer appear first on the ballot, I immediately filed a complaint with the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board last Friday, March 23rd,” Harmon began. “I’m truly concerned that this will confuse and disenfranchise voters.”
“The fault lies clearly at Sue Edman’s feet,” continued Harmon. “It is her duty to make sure that these procedures are impartial and carried out correctly. When I personally contacted Ms. Edman about the ballot position in my race, she said she ‘took it upon herself’ to move Puente back to the first ballot position because the Alderman would be ‘furious’ and ‘march down here and give me trouble’.”
“Ultimately, this isn’t about me. It’s about the electoral process,” said Harmon. “Everything she said concerned me. Not only is she showing her own partiality towards Puente, but she also feels that she was going to be bullied if she didn’t act in this way. There is no oversight or transparency right now for this process. When elected in April, that’s one of the first things I’ll work to reverse.”
“Ms. Edman clearly was trying to sweep these issues under the rug in her March 22ndpress release,” finished Harmon. “I’m disappointed at the lack of professionalism and accountability inside City Hall.”
