A former Milwaukee election official convicted of misconduct in office and fraud for obtaining fake absentee ballots has been sentenced to one year of probation and fined $3,000.

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.

  • OccamsRazer@lemmy.world
    639·
    6 months ago

    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.

    • greentreerainfire@kbin.social
      131·
      6 months ago

      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.

    • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
      10·
      6 months ago

      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.

      • OccamsRazer@lemmy.world
        41·
        6 months ago

        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.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
        1·
        6 months ago

        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.

        • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
          2·
          6 months ago

          Because they’re desperate to be seen to the point of spewing negativity… same as most trolls really. Alternatively, they might be delusional enough to actually believe their bullshit.

          Trolls gonna troll - look at their post history.

      • OccamsRazer@lemmy.world
        23·
        6 months ago

        Everyone’s doing it to some extent, whether they want to admit it or not. I TRY not to let my bias influence my impression of events, but it definitely has some kind of impact.