A former Milwaukee election official convicted of misconduct in office and fraud for obtaining fake absentee ballots was sentenced Thursday to one year of probation and fined $3,000.
Kimberly Zapata, 47, also was ordered to complete 120 hours of community service.
Prosecutors charged Zapata in November 2022 with one felony count of misconduct in public office and three misdemeanor counts of election fraud. A jury in March found her guiltyon all four counts.
Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Kori Ashley rejected an argument by Zapata’s attorneys that she was acting as a whistleblower, telling her before handing down the sentence that she had ways to make her point other than breaking the law.
When the punishment is a fine, it’s only a crime if you’re poor.
She sent the ballots to Republican state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, an election conspiracy theorist, two weeks before the state’s gubernatorial and legislative elections.
Yep, Republican
As expected. Like many other stories, their election forgery, ballot box stuffing, and dead voters are nothing but projection.
she was acting as a whistleblower
Genius. If I’m ever prosecuted for murder, my defense will be that I was making a point about the public safety and the ease of breaking and entering with a knife.
obtaining fake absentee ballots
I read the article but I still don’t understand this. Did she print fake ballots? Did she receive a stack of fake ballots from someone else? Did she send them to people so their votes wouldn’t count, or do anything else with the fake ballots other than have them?
I’m not trying to defend her I just have no idea what’s going on in this situation.
You may not have scrolled far enough down. There’s a break in the page where it suggests other articles to read then the story continues underneath. The following is from near the end of the article.
Zapata served as deputy director at the Milwaukee Election Commission in October 2022 when she used her work-issued laptop to obtain three military absentee ballots using fake names and Social Security numbers, according to a criminal complaint. She sent the ballots to Republican state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, an election conspiracy theorist, two weeks before the state’s gubernatorial and legislative elections.
Remember when this woman was originally given 6 years for voting while on probation?
https://apnews.com/article/texas-voter-fraud-conviction-overturned-f6265c98b5a134388c229d3886e39410
Yet this other woman gets a slap in the wrist. Can you tell the difference between them?
It’s not clear from the article if this supports my political bias or not, so I don’t have much to say about it.
I was curious. I did not find any specific listing fo le her, however since she sent the ballots to a Republican official who had been making claims of voter fraud (and is the person that reported the incident) I’m guessing she is republican leaning.
I know this might be controversial, but people fraudulently stealing absentee ballots should be punished regardless of what their political leaning is. I know, I’m so brave.
Yep. Even if she is telling the truth about her motives and if she uncovered true election fraud, she cant break the law to obtain that evidence.
Can we please call this the “Tina Peters Defense”?
Who’s saying otherwise? Of course anyone committing election fraud needs to be brought to justice.
However it’s interesting that so many of the criminals come from one side of the spectrum, and it’s the side with wild accusations of fraud.
