Wisconsin Elections Commission Responds To Milwaukee Official's Firing

WISCONSIN — Amid accusations that a Milwaukee election official sent a Waukesha politician fake military ballots, Wisconsin's top bipartisan election commission on Thursday responded with confidence that the upcoming Nov. 8 election will be fair and accurate.

The three military ballots were received by State Rep. Janel Brandtjen on Oct. 27. Prosecutors said Kimberly Zapata requested the ballots from three Milwaukee County suburban clerks through Wisconsin's MyVote website and then had them sent to the politician. Zapata now faces a charge of felony misconduct in office and three charges of election fraud.

Related: Milwaukee Official Charged After Sending False Ballots: Complaint

“The actions of this single individual were swiftly detected and will have no impact on the November 8 election," said WEC Administrator Meagan Wolfe in a news release Thursday. "We however recognize that the damage caused by this action is damage to public confidence. This violation of trust cuts to the heart of election integrity, something that the Wisconsin Elections Commission and local election officials hold in the most serious regard. While the actions of this individual set us all back in our efforts to show Wisconsinites that our elections are run with integrity, I have every confidence the upcoming election will be fair and accurate"

The Wisconsin Election Commission doesn't believe that any other ballots were affected beyond the three that were reported, Wolfe said.

“While this case understandably will receive a lot of attention, the fact remains that election fraud is extremely rare, and when it does occur, it is quickly discovered, and there are consequences," Wolfe said. “This lone individual’s actions do not in any way reflect the high level of integrity that the rest of our local election officials – your friends, neighbors, and relatives – bring to their jobs every single day."

Absentee Military ballots are not subject to the same laws as other absentee ballots, though they only make up about 0.07 percent of total ballots requested on average, the WEC news release explained.

With that though, the WEC said it is open to working with the Legislature "to continue improving election safeguards to ensure election processes reserved for our military members are better secured and easily accessible."

These are some of the safety checks already in place to prevent fraudulent military ballots from getting counted, according to WEC:

• "Military voters are required to list a valid Wisconsin residential address for their absentee ballot request."
• "If an absentee ballot of a military voter is sent to an address other than the voter’s residential address (and the mailing address isn’t listed on the voter’s registration form), the WEC has sent a postcard to the residential address to notify the voter of the absentee ballot request and provide them the opportunity to notify officials if they did not make the request. In Thursday’s case, a state representative notified law enforcement officials of the irregular ballots."
• "Local and state election officials may check up on individuals requesting military ballots be sent to a location other than a military facility in order to ensure the ballot was properly issued."
• "Local and state election officials monitor our systems for irregular absentee ballot requests."
• "Throughout the process to request an absentee ballot, active military members must attest that they are a qualified elector."
• "All absentee voters must also certify that they are making their request using their information and that providing false information is a crime."