A jury convicted a former Milwaukee election official of absentee ballot fraud and misconduct in office Wednesday in an unusual case that pitted a self-proclaimed whistleblower against election conspiracy theorists.
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Kimberly Zapata, 47, served as Milwaukee’s deputy elections director in 2022, when baseless claims about elections circulated among Republicans, including in the state legislature. Zapata has said the focus by some lawmakers in this critical swing state on meritless issues frustrated her and she wanted to alert them to what she viewed as a true vulnerability in Wisconsin’s voting system. To do that, she has said, she generated three ballots under the names of fictitious military members and sent them to one of the legislature’s leading election deniers.
No illegal votes were cast, and the lawmaker promptly reported the ballots to authorities. Zapata soon afterward was fired and charged with a felony count of misconduct in office and three misdemeanor counts of absentee ballot fraud.
A jury in Milwaukee County on Wednesday convicted Zapata after hearing two days of testimony. She faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $13,000 fine.
Shortly after she was charged in November 2022, Zapata told The Washington Post she came to a “breaking point” because of false election claims and threats. She said lawmakers should look into actual problems with the state’s voting system and said she wanted to make that point in “the loudest and most attention-grabbing way.”
“I understand what I did was wrong, and I understand that I need consequences for it,” she said in that interview. “But at the same time, I did this for the greater good. I did this for the American voters to believe in the election system again.”
She described herself as a swing voter and said she did not consider herself a Republican or Democrat.
Falsehoods about elections flourished in Wisconsin after Joe Biden narrowly won the state in 2020. Republican lawmakers hired investigators who consulted with conspiracy theorists and flirted with trying to revoke the state’s 10 electoral votes more than a year after the election. The lead investigator for the Republican lawmakers later acknowledged that trying to pull back the electoral votes was “a practical impossibility.”
Unlike most states, Wisconsin allows military members to cast absentee ballots without registering to vote or providing proof of residency. Zapata said she saw that policy as a problem and used a state website to have three ballots sent under invented names to state Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R), who has promoted discredited theories about the 2020 election and at the time led the Wisconsin State Assembly’s elections committee.
Brandtjen in a written statement this week said she had never spoken to Zapata but believed she had identified a “critical flaw” in the state’s online system for requesting absentee ballots. She said she was concerned that lawmakers and the state elections commission had not done more to address the issue.
Election officials have downplayed the incident, saying they would quickly discover any instances in which large numbers of fictitious ballots were created. They have said the charges against Zapata show that such schemes don’t work.
Zapata created the ballots under fake names four months after Wisconsin conservative activist Harry Wait made online requests to have ballots meant for other people sent to his home. Wait, who has been charged with two felonies and two misdemeanors, has said he was trying to expose what he considers flaws in how the state allows voters to apply for absentee ballots.
Cut through the 2024 election noise. Get The Campaign Moment newsletter.
Kimberly Zapata, 47, served as Milwaukee’s deputy elections director in 2022, when baseless claims about elections circulated among Republicans, including in the state legislature. Zapata has said the focus by some lawmakers in this critical swing state on meritless issues frustrated her and she wanted to alert them to what she viewed as a true vulnerability in Wisconsin’s voting system. To do that, she has said, she generated three ballots under the names of fictitious military members and sent them to one of the legislature’s leading election deniers.
No illegal votes were cast, and the lawmaker promptly reported the ballots to authorities. Zapata soon afterward was fired and charged with a felony count of misconduct in office and three misdemeanor counts of absentee ballot fraud.
A jury in Milwaukee County on Wednesday convicted Zapata after hearing two days of testimony. She faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $13,000 fine.
Shortly after she was charged in November 2022, Zapata told The Washington Post she came to a “breaking point” because of false election claims and threats. She said lawmakers should look into actual problems with the state’s voting system and said she wanted to make that point in “the loudest and most attention-grabbing way.”
“I understand what I did was wrong, and I understand that I need consequences for it,” she said in that interview. “But at the same time, I did this for the greater good. I did this for the American voters to believe in the election system again.”
She described herself as a swing voter and said she did not consider herself a Republican or Democrat.
Falsehoods about elections flourished in Wisconsin after Joe Biden narrowly won the state in 2020. Republican lawmakers hired investigators who consulted with conspiracy theorists and flirted with trying to revoke the state’s 10 electoral votes more than a year after the election. The lead investigator for the Republican lawmakers later acknowledged that trying to pull back the electoral votes was “a practical impossibility.”
Unlike most states, Wisconsin allows military members to cast absentee ballots without registering to vote or providing proof of residency. Zapata said she saw that policy as a problem and used a state website to have three ballots sent under invented names to state Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R), who has promoted discredited theories about the 2020 election and at the time led the Wisconsin State Assembly’s elections committee.
Brandtjen in a written statement this week said she had never spoken to Zapata but believed she had identified a “critical flaw” in the state’s online system for requesting absentee ballots. She said she was concerned that lawmakers and the state elections commission had not done more to address the issue.
Election officials have downplayed the incident, saying they would quickly discover any instances in which large numbers of fictitious ballots were created. They have said the charges against Zapata show that such schemes don’t work.
Zapata created the ballots under fake names four months after Wisconsin conservative activist Harry Wait made online requests to have ballots meant for other people sent to his home. Wait, who has been charged with two felonies and two misdemeanors, has said he was trying to expose what he considers flaws in how the state allows voters to apply for absentee ballots.
