Wis. Elections Commission official says Zapata ‘stunt’ wastes clerks’ valuable time

(WKBT)- Wisconsin’s chief election official says a now-former Milwaukee elections official violated election law and undermined the trust of the public when she sent fake military ballots to a Republican legislator.

Meagan Wolfe said Friday she recognizes the now-former official Kimberly Zapata’s alleged action does damage to public confidence in the election, but she added the election system is designed to swiftly catch attempts to cheat elections.

Wolfe said Zapata’s alleged “stunt” does nothing but waste clerks’ valuable time.

“These stunts do not impact the integrity of the election, they do not exploit vulnerabilities, they are caught.,” said Wolfe. “But they do cost local election officials valuable time, time we should all agree is better spent preparing for the election.”

Wolfe said this year, a record 10 percent random sampling of the reporting units across the state will undergo a post-election audit. That’s when poll workers will publicly hand-count the ballots to compare the totals to the voting equipment to ensure accuracy.

The WEC is confident the election is safe and secure.

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