Former election official convicted of absentee ballot fraud in Milwaukee

A Milwaukee jury has found a former election official guilty of fraud and misconduct in office after she obtained fake absentee ballots in the 2022 election.

Kimberly Zapata, 47, was charged in November of that year with one felony count of misconduct in public office and three misdemeanor counts of election fraud. The jury found her guilty of all four counts Wednesday, The Associated Press reported .

Zapata faces up to five years in prison. She will be sentenced on May 2, the AP noted.

In October of 2022, Zapata served as the deputy director at the Milwaukee Election Commission. She used her work-issued laptop to get three military absentee ballots using fake names and Social Security numbers. As part of her job, she oversaw the counting of absentee ballots in Milwaukee.

Zapata had the extra ballots sent to the home of state Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R), who chairs the Assembly elections committee and has voiced support for overturning the 2020 presidential election results.

Zapata was fired after the mayor found she had requested the extra ballots.

Brandtjen filed a lawsuit in early November 2022 to block the counting of military ballots in the state after Zapata was fired.

Zapata’s attorney argued during the two-day trial that she saw herself as a whistleblower and didn’t mean to hurt anyone. Assistant District Attorney Matthew Westphal argued that she wasn’t a whistleblower, “she’s committing election fraud.”

Wisconsin, one of a few key swing states, elected President Biden in 2020 by less than 21,000 votes. The state has been a target of former President Trump, who made attempts to challenge the results.

It will be a critical battleground state in this fall’s presidential election.

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