Milwaukee Election Commission's Kimberly Zapata charged, ballot fraud
MILWAUKEE - Prosecutors charged Kimberly Zapata, the fired Milwaukee Election Commission deputy director, over bogus ballot requests. If convicted, she faces up to five years behind bars.
Milwaukee County prosecutors said Zapata admitted to making up names and ordering military ballots that were then sent to a state lawmaker's home in hopes of exposing vulnerabilities with the state's election system.
State Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls) earlier said she was surprised to receive the three absentee ballots at her Menomonee Falls address. She reported them to the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department. The ballots were for Holly Brandtjen, Holly Jones and Holly Adams – three people who prosecutors said don't exist.
"She had the ballots sent to [Janel Bradtjen] in an attempt to redirect JB's focus away from outrageous conspiracy theories and to something that is actually real," the complaint alleged of Zapata.
The lawmaker on Friday, Nov. 4, joined a lawsuit with other voters asking for military absentee ballot to be sequestered ahead of Election Day. The Thomas More Society filed the suit in Waukesha County, and raised the issues with Zapata's alleged actions.
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The court paperwork said the ballots were mailed by municipal clerks in Menomonee Falls, Shorewood, and South Milwaukee. All three ballots, the complaint said, were "classified as military absentee ballots" and requested via the MyVote website.
Wisconsin law exempts military voters from having to show a photo ID to receive an absentee ballot.
Ballots sent to State Rep. Janel Brandtjen's Menomonee Falls home
The complaint accused Zapata of creating the fake names and falsely representing they were military voters. The complaint alleged she used her government access to a database to get Brantdjen's address and send the ballots there.
On Oct. 31, the Milwaukee Election Commission's Executive Director Clarie Woodall-Vogg said she sent Zapata "an article regarding an unknown individual fraudulently applying for military absentee ballots," per the complaint.
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The complaint states Woodall-Vogg also sent Zapata another message with a "statement that was put out by (Janel Brandtjen) regarding how easy it was to receive military ballots." The complaint said Zapata replied: "She has a point."
Zapata approached Woodall-Vogg at work on Nov. 1 and the complaint said Zapata admitted she created the fake voters and used fake information to order the ballots be sent to Brandtjen's home, in an effort to show the ease to which this type of fraud could be committed.
Kimberly Zapata
Investigators questioned Zapata and the complaint summarizes the alleged motive: "Zapata did this because she wanted to make a point that there is fraud in existence. She stated that it is not the conspiracy theories out there, but she wanted to bring the actual true fraud out. Zapata stated that she felt overwhelmed due to the threats of violence the Election Commission was receiving, in addition to the constant daily harassment and accusations of lying and hiding things. She stated she wanted the truth to come out so that they could focus on the actual problems."
Zapata worked at the Milwaukee Election Commission for seven years. City leaders said after she admitted her actions to Woodall-Vogg, the city immediately removed Zapata from accessing city databases. In addition, city leaders said it is looking into all the elections in which she was involved.
FOX6 News spoke to Zapata during the August primary election. Thursday, Zapata refused to speak to FOX6 – and drove off.
Prosecutors charged Zapata with misconduct in public office and three counts of making a false statement to obtain an absentee ballot. She is expected to make her initial appearance in Milwaukee County court on Monday, Nov. 28.
City and election leaders respond
The Milwaukee Common Council's Steering and Rules Committee plans to hear from the city's election director on Monday. It will likely be a closed session.
"That is why we’re disappointed, it creates the impression that there’s some problem, when there is no problem. There were no votes illegally cast. And maybe no intent to have votes illegally cast," Alderman Bob Bauman said.
"It’s really kind of mind-boggling that things like this can happen. I don’t want to speculate, but clearly there are some needs here that we have to look at." said Alderman Mark Borkowski.
Milwaukee Election Commission
Wisconsin's top elections official stands by the system.
"This came as a surprise to everyone in the Wisconsin elections community. And I am deeply disappointed in this individual's actions. This election official violated election law, undermined the trust of the public, and of our fellow election workers," Meagan Wolfe with the Wisconsin Elections Commission told reporters. "These stunts do not impact the integrity of the election, they do no exploit vulnerabilities, they are caught. But they do cost local election officials valuable time."
Military ballots make up a small percentage of the ballots cast in Wisconsin. In 2018, the state saw 2,700 military ballot requests and roughly the same number this year – 2,747, of which roughly 1,400 have been returned.