Trial of former Milwaukee election official charged with illegally requesting ballots begins

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The attorney for a former Milwaukee elections official charged with fraudulently ordering three military absentee ballots under fake names and sending them to a Republican lawmaker who embraced election conspiracy theories argued Monday in opening statements that she was a whistleblower and not a criminal.

Kimberly Zapata, the former deputy director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, is on trial for misconduct in public office, a felony, and three misdemeanor counts of making a false statement to obtain an absentee ballot. She faces up to five years behind bars if convicted of all four counts.

In Milwaukee County Circuit Court, Zapata’s defense attorney Daniel Adams told the jury that she committed no crime, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Adams called Zapata an apolitical “whistleblower” who sought to flag a gap in the election system he described as “fair and secure.”

And, he said, she was “extremely stressed out” by the conspiracy theories and threats targeting election officials.

But Assistant District Attorney Matthew Westphal countered that Zapata was entrusted with safeguarding elections and she violated that trust.

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