A former election official in Milwaukee was found guilty on Wednesday, after she was accused of obtaining fake absentee ballots and sending them to a conspiracy-touting Republican state representative, according to The Washington Post. Kimberly Zapata was charged in 2022 with one count of misconduct in public office, and three counts of election fraud. Zapata was accused of requesting three military absentee ballots using fake Social Security numbers and made up names, while serving as Deputy Director of the Milwaukee Election Commission for the 2022 election. Instead of alerting election officials, she then sent these ballots to state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, who had previously advocated to decertify the results of the 2020 election and spread conspiracy theories about election fraud. Her lawyer, Daniel Adams, argued that she saw herself as a whistleblower. Assistant District Attorney Matthew Westphal refuted that characterization. “She is not a whistleblower. She’s not exposing information. She’s committing election fraud,” he said. “As a society we cannot tolerate people who break the law when there are multiple legitimate means to raise those same concerns,” he added. Zapata’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 2, and she faces up to 5 years in prison.
