Kelly Martyka Removed

Kelly Martyka, a South Milwaukee, Wisconsin municipal court judge, resigned on September 19, 2025, days after being charged with false swearing in Milwaukee County Circuit Court. Prosecutors alleged Martyka lied about personally circulating her own nomination papers and personally obtaining the signatures needed to get on the ballot for reelection — a criminal complaint states she admitted several of the signatures were actually obtained by someone else, and that she signed her own name over a whited-out name of the actual circulator. Investigators separately found Martyka had been living primarily in Racine, Wisconsin, while serving as a South Milwaukee judge, though she was not criminally charged over residency. She faces up to nine months in prison and a $10,000 fine on the misdemeanor false-swearing charge and pleaded not guilty on October 8, 2025; the case remains pending.