Kimberly D. Zapata, Former Deputy Director Of The Milwaukee Election Commission Charged With Felony Misconduct In Office For Illegally Requesting Military Absentee Ballots With Fake Names

Zapata confessed to police investigators that she requested multiple military absentee ballots and then sent them to the residence of a Wisconsin state Republican representative.

By H. Nelson Goodson 

Hispanic News Network U.S.A.

November 4, 2022

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Friday, former City of Milwaukee Election Commission deputy director Kimberly D. Zapata, 45, was charged with one felony count for misconduct in office and three misdemeanor counts for election fraud involving absentee ballots.

If convicted, Zapata is facing 3 years and 6 months in prison and up to $10,000 in fines for misconduct in office and up to 6 months in jail and up to $1,000 in fines for each misdemeanor charged.

According to the criminal complaint, Zapata confessed to police that she requested multiple military absentee ballots with fake names from three localities, which included Menomonie Falls, South Milwaukee and Shorewood by using the following fake names Holly Brandtjen, Holly Jones and Holly Adams. She also used the same date of birth for each fake name including the same last four digits of a fake Social Security number. The military absentee ballots illegally requested through MyVote website by Zapata were sent to Wisconsin Republican State Representative Janel Brandtjen at her Menomonie Falls residence on October 28, 2022.

Zapata also told police that on November 1, 2022, she had admitted to requesting illegal military absentee ballots and using fake names to show how easy it was to commit election fraud to Claire Woodall-Vogg, the executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission. Woodall-Vogg told investigators that on October 31, she sent Zapata an article claiming that someone had fraudulently applied for military absentee ballots, but that Zapata claimed she didn't know anything about it.

Police say, that Zapata admitted to illegally requesting military absentee ballots, and she "did this because she wanted to make a point that there is fraud in existence...(and she) wanted to bring the actual true fraud out..."

So far, Zapata failed to prove to police that actual military absentee ballot fraud actually exits or happened in the 2020 presidential election in Milwaukee. 

The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office has not charged nor prosecuted any individual of using the MyVote website to illegally request military absentee ballots to commit election fraud other than Zapata herself.

Zapata has worked for the City of Milwaukee for 10 years including 7 years with the election commission.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson on Thursday announced that Zapata had been fired from her position at the election commission after it was discovered that she illegally requested military absentee ballots using fake names.

Zapata knew that requesting military absentee ballots with fake names for any purpose was election fraud and illegal, according to the criminal complaint.