Jury finds former Milwaukee election official guilty of obtaining fake absentee ballots

🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles: ::: spoiler Click here to see the summary Zapata was serving 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.

Zapata told investigators that she was stressed over death threats commission staff had been receiving from election conspiracy theorists and she wanted to shift their attention to real flaws in the system.

Assistant District Attorney Matthew Westphal countered that Zapata went rogue and broke the law rather than sharing her concerns with state election officials, reporters or legislators.

The case against Zapata mirrors one against Harry Wait, a Racine man who requested and received absentee ballots in the names of legislators and local officials in July.

Milwaukee, home to the largest number of Democrats in Wisconsin, has been a target for complaints from former President Donald Trump and his supporters, who made unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud to attack Biden’s 2020 victory.

The Wisconsin Ethics Commission last month recommended felony charges against Brandtjen and a fundraising committee for Trump, accusing them of efforts to evade campaign finance laws during an attempt to unseat GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.

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5 comments

@mozz
The Republican election fixing conspiracy theorist was right!
- He was just (as he claimed in his defense) trying to test the system.
  Whaddya know, the system works, and even 3 ballots' worth of deliberate fraud can be detected and will send you to prison. I know! I'm as shocked as you are.
  
  You obviated the need for me to post by saying it better than I would have. Cheers.
🤖 I'm a bot that provides automatic summaries for articles: ::: spoiler Click here to see the summary Zapata was serving 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.
Zapata told investigators that she was stressed over death threats commission staff had been receiving from election conspiracy theorists and she wanted to shift their attention to real flaws in the system.
Assistant District Attorney Matthew Westphal countered that Zapata went rogue and broke the law rather than sharing her concerns with state election officials, reporters or legislators.
The case against Zapata mirrors one against Harry Wait, a Racine man who requested and received absentee ballots in the names of legislators and local officials in July.
Milwaukee, home to the largest number of Democrats in Wisconsin, has been a target for complaints from former President Donald Trump and his supporters, who made unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud to attack Biden’s 2020 victory.
The Wisconsin Ethics Commission last month recommended felony charges against Brandtjen and a fundraising committee for Trump, accusing them of efforts to evade campaign finance laws during an attempt to unseat GOP Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.
Saved 62% of original text. :::
That's one odd way to prove that election fraud can easily lead to convictions.