Madison— A jury convicted a former Milwaukee election official of misconduct in office and fraud Wednesday for procuring fraudulent absentee ballots, rejecting her claim that she was exposing voting system weaknesses.
Kimberly Zapata was charged with one felony of public office misconduct and three misdemeanors of election fraud in November 2022. After Wednesday morning deliberations, the Milwaukee County Circuit Court jury convicted her on all four counts. Zapata's May 2 sentence may be five years in prison.
In October 2022, Milwaukee Election Commission deputy director Zapata used her work laptop to get three military absentee ballots using fraudulent names and Social Security numbers, according to a criminal complaint. Two weeks before the state's gubernatorial and legislative elections, she mailed the ballots to election conspiracy theorist Republican state Rep. Janel Brandtjen.
Brandtjen has promoted conspiracy theories to decertify President Joe Biden's 2020 Wisconsin win. Wisconsin absentee ballots are available to active military personnel without registration or photo ID. Investigators learned that Zapata was worried about election conspiracy theorists' death threats to commission staff and wanted to focus on systemic issues.
During a two-day trial, her counsel, Daniel Adams, maintained that Zapata was a whistleblower who didn't mean to injure anyone. Assistant District Attorney Matthew Westphal said Zapata breached the law instead of telling state election officials, reporters, or legislators her concerns.
“She is not a whistleblower. Not revealing information. Westphal stated Wednesday morning in his closing remarks that she committed election fraud. Our society cannot tolerate lawbreakers when there are other ways to voice concerns. Adams declined to comment after the verdicts through his law office receptionist.
In July, Racine resident Harry Wait requested and obtained absentee ballots for lawmakers and local politicians, similar to Zapata. Wait stated he sought to highlight state elections system flaws. Two misdemeanor election fraud and two felony identity theft charges could land him in prison for 13 years.
Former President Donald Trump and his allies used unproven charges of voter fraud to criticize Biden's 2020 victory in Milwaukee, Wisconsin's most Democratic city. Wisconsin remains one of the competitive states for the November presidential election ahead of the April 2 presidential primary.
Brandtjen has legal issues. Last month, the Wisconsin Ethics Commission recommended felony charges against Brandtjen and a Trump fundraising committee for evading campaign finance regulations to topple GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.
stay turned for development