The Wisconsin Elections Commission has unanimously dismissed a residency complaint against Democratic Assembly candidate Ismael Luna, finding no reasonable suspicion that he violated state election law.
The bipartisan commission voted in closed session at its Oct. 1 meeting to throw out the complaint filed in August by state Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, the three-term incumbent Luna defeated in the Aug. 11 Democratic primary for Milwaukee’s 8th Assembly District.
In its decision letter, the commission said it “does not find reasonable suspicion that Ismael Luna violated” several provisions of Wis. Stat. § 12.13 covering false statements on election documents, voting irregularities, and related offenses.
“Nothing in the complaint proves reasonable suspicion that the address the Respondent listed on his campaign documents and as his voter registration address, 1423 W. Walker Street, is not his residence,” the commission wrote.
Ortiz-Velez filed the complaint after losing the primary, arguing Luna did not live in the South Side district and instead stayed at properties he owns outside it. She contended that if the Walker Street address in Walker’s Point was not his residence, he falsified campaign and voter documents and voted illegally in the primary. Wisconsin law requires a voter to have lived in the district for at least 28 days before an election, though legislative candidates are not required to reside in the district until they take office.
Luna, a 26-year-old case manager and first-time candidate, won the primary with about 74% of the vote — 1,776 to Ortiz-Velez’s 634. Before the complaint was filed, a campaign spokesperson said Luna “rents and lives in the district, like thousands of others who live here.”
Ortiz-Velez criticized the dismissal, saying the commission declined to refer the matter for criminal investigation despite property records and neighborhood accounts she argued cast doubt on Luna’s residency. She has also pressed Luna to release cellphone location data and has said she will run as a write-in in the Nov. 3 general election.
Luna remains the Democratic nominee against Republican Angel Sanchez in the heavily Democratic district.
