MILWAUKEE —
The deputy director of the city of Milwaukee's Election Commission has been fired, accused of election fraud.
Milwaukee city leaders say Kimberly Zapata used the public MyVote website to request three military absentee ballots using fake names and sent them to the home of state Rep. Janel Brandtjen.
Mayor Cavalier Johnson says Zapata was forthcoming about her actions. "This has every appearance of being an egregious blatant violation of trust this matter is now in the hands of law enforcement," Mayor Cavalier Johnson said. City officials say they believe Zapata was attempting to expose what she saw as a problem with military ballots. By state law, military voters are not required to register to vote, and they are exempt from having to provide a photo ID. Earlier this week, Brandtjen shared pictures on social media of three military absentee ballots addressed to someone named "Holly" sent to her home. Brandtjen is also the chairwoman of the Assembly Elections Committee.
She issued a statement Thursday saying, "Unlike Mayor Johnson, I have actually been working on providing Wisconsinites a safe and secure election process. We have uncovered so many issues that demand attention. I have been attacked by the liberal media, democrats who benefit from the system, and Republicans who don’t have the backbone to take on the issues, including Speaker Vos, who has referred to me as a conspiracy theorist. All of the while, we have uncovered massive amounts of election disparities and a statewide Election Commission that has undeniably broken the law on numerous occasions. It’s time we do the people’s business, and that includes the media and both parties taking part."
On Monday, the Waukesha County sheriff announced it is investigating who sent the ballots.
In a statement, the sheriff's office said: "None of the individuals reside or have resided at her address. This matter is currently under investigation with no additional information available at this time. The Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department is working with the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office in this investigation." Zapata has been with the Election Commission for about seven years. She became deputy director in July and would have helped oversee the city's central count location where absentee ballots are processed. "So up until this point we have never had any indication of any type of violation of work polices or procedures. We of course will be taking an extra look at that," Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Claire Woodall-Vogg said.
A group of Milwaukee Common Council members responded by saying, "We applaud Mayor Johnson’s decision to terminate the employment of Kimberly Zapata, now former deputy director of the Election Commission." The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office is reviewing the allegations and expects charges to be filed in the coming days. As of Thursday afternoon, the Wisconsin Department of Justice has not been asked to intervene.
WISN 12 News reporter Kent Wainscott went to Zapata's home Thursday. "Kimberly, can we talk to you? Kimberly, can we talk to you? Kimberly, will you take a second and speak with us?" Wainscott said. She drove off without stopping. Late Thursday afternoon, her lawyer sent Wainscott a statement saying simply, "We will litigate this in the courtroom, not the media."
Cleaned up best I could.
To reiterate: "There wasn't fraud, I made fraud, to prove fraud was possible, then got caught doing fraud"
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