Former Milwaukee election official, Kimberly Zapata, was sentenced to one year of probation and ordered to pay a $3,000 fine for fraudulently ordering three military absentee ballots under fake names ahead of the 2022 midterm elections. Circuit Judge Jennifer Ashley, while delivering the sentence, referenced the heightened tensions around election fraud, emphasizing that Zapata’s actions contributed to the existing climate.
The sentence also included 120 hours of community service as a condition of probation. Assistant District Attorney Sara Westphal stated, “Ms. Zapata swore an oath to defend the federal and state Constitutions and to faithfully discharge her duties. She abandoned that duty. She introduced fraud into the system.”
Zapata was charged in November 2022 after it was discovered that she fraudulently requested three military absentee ballots and had them sent to the Menomonee Falls home of State Rep. Janel Brandtjen. The ballots were mailed by clerks in Menomonee Falls, Shorewood, and South Milwaukee, according to USA Today.
In a recording of a police interview played for the jury, Zapata admitted to sending the ballots to Brandtjen, stating that she did so to make Brandtjen “stop and think and redirect her focus away from these outrageous conspiracy theories to something that’s actually real.”
In a letter submitted ahead of the sentencing, Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm’s office wrote, “Ms. Zapata, without a doubt, committed an enormous violation of public trust and sowed greater distrust in our democratic system.”
Zapata’s actions are particularly significant considering the widespread skepticism around the legitimacy of mail-in votes across Wisconsin and the nation. President Joe Biden won Wisconsin by just under 21,000 votes in 2020.
