The Sconi

Dan O’Donnell claimed voter fraud is coming from the Milwaukee Election Commission after Kimberly Zapata, deputy director of the election commission was fired for applying and receiving three military absentee ballots in an attempt to demonstrate that Wisconsin's voter website had flaws.

O'Donnell said on his radio show that "the vote fraud is coming from inside Milwaukee’s house."

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Zapata was charged with a felony for fraudulently requesting absentee military ballots. She allegedly sent the fraudulent ballots to a Republican lawmaker. As of Friday, Zapata was officially charged with misconduct in office, a felony and three misdemeanors. Mayor Cavalier Johnson fired Zapata earlier this week after her fraudulent request was discovered and reported. 

The Journal Sentinel reported Zapata sent the ballots to Rep. Janel Brandtjen of Menomonee Falls. 

"Zapata stated that she felt overwhelmed due to the threats of violence the election commission was receiving, in addition to the constant daily harassment and accusations of lying and hiding things. She stated she wanted the truth to come out so that they could focus on the actual problems," the criminal complaint filed by officials read.

According to the Journal Sentinel, Zapata’s role included supervising all absentee ballots, including ballots sent to military members abroad. She was attempting to expose issues within the system, according to the Journal Sentinel. Military voters can request absentee ballots online by visiting the MyVote.wi.gov website and do not need to show an ID or be registered to vote. According to the complaint by city officials, Zapata went on Myvote.gov and created fake voter profiles using her confidential authorized login. She sent the ballots to Brandtjen, claiming that creating these fake ballots was easy, in an attempt to prove faults within the system.

O’Donnell claimed those attempting to receive a military absentee ballot on MyVote.wi.gov do not need to prove military status or prove photo ID. Upon further research, O’Donnell also said Zapata was the one who discovered a flash drive during the 2020 presidential election that contained numerous absentee ballots. 

According to Wisconsin Right Now, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, Claire Woodall-Vogg, had lost the flash drive after leaving the election building with a police escort in November of 2020. After the flash drive was recovered by Zapata, Woodall-Vogg claimed the chain of custody had not been breached and no other person had come in contact with the lost flash drive. Later, Woodall-Vogg released a statement saying she left the flash drive behind in a tabulator machine but Zapata gave it to a police officer who returned it to her after 10 minutes. Woodall-Vogg said the incident did not interfere with any Milwaukee ballots or with the election results. 

Mayor Cavalier Johnson of Milwaukee issued a statement on Twitter about Zapata’s allegations of fraud.

"The City of Milwaukee has removed the deputy director of our election commission following stunning information about allegations against her. I was told yesterday that she apparently sought fictitious military ballots from a state election website and had those ballots directed to a state representative," Johnson tweeted. "I will not accept, I will not tolerate and I certainly will not defend any misrepresentation by a city official involved in elections." 

Johnson added, "It does not matter that this might have been an effort to expose a vulnerability that state law created. It does not matter that this alleged crime did not take place at work. It does not matter that City of Milwaukee ballots were not part of this. Nor does it matter that there was no attempt to vote illegally or tamper with election results."

Johnson said the importance of election integrity is “absolutely essential.”