Democrats don’t discriminate.  They want to convict all “election deniers,” whether they are white, black, men, women, young, or old.  This week, 47-year-old Kimberly Zapata learned that she may spend years in prison for exposing weaknesses in Wisconsin’s election system.

Zapata was the deputy director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, and she saw a major vulnerability in the system: anyone in Wisconsin could easily obtain military absentee ballots — real ones — simply by requesting them.  And once people acquired those ballots, they could use them without satisfying the normal ID requirements.

How easy was it to get military ballots?  To get three nice new ones, Zapata merely went to the public website (“My Vote Wisconsin”) and entered three phony names, three made-up Social Security numbers, and a phony mailing address.  Zapata did not need to use any special passwords or equipment.

It is obvious that Zapata wasn’t trying to alter election results.  We know that because the phony address she used was that of Janel Brandtjen, who was the chair of the Campaigns and Elections Committee of the Wisconsin Assembly.  As the convicted felon stated in court, she was simply trying to bring a glaring security weakness to the attention of the public.  Some people would call her a whistleblower.

Here are the 3 ballots received by Representative Brandtjen.

Unfortunately, Representative Brandtjen didn’t understand how and why she received the ballots, so she contacted authorities and the media.  That led to the legal troubles for Zapata.

All of this was carefully explained in court, but to no avail.  That’s because blue cities no longer use juries; instead, they use twelve-person lynch mobs.  The mob convicted Zapata of “misconduct in public office” (a felony) and three misdemeanor counts of election fraud.  At her sentencing next month, Kimberly Zapata could get up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $13,000.  She has already lost her job and will never be able to hold a public office again.

Those charges may seem excessive, but remember: fraud in an election may not be a serious crime, but exposing fraud is very serious.  It would be different if Zapata had merely looted a store, burned down a police station, or sucker-punched a nearby pedestrian.  Instead, she did something that could lead to another “insurrection” — especially if MAGA people see the figures in the graph below:

As you can see, the military absentee vote in Wisconsin more than doubled between 2016 and 2020, and by almost five times in comparison to 2018.  Then it dropped down dramatically.  To uneducated MAGA people, that might seem odd.  They might suspect that cheating took place.

If you think the Zapata case is an isolated occurrence, you are wrong.  A Racine man, named Harry Wait, did something similar, and he now faces up to 13 years in prison.  Mr. Wait also wanted to demonstrate how easily absentee ballots can be obtained in Wisconsin, so he applied for a bunch of them on behalf of legislators and local officials.  They weren’t amused, and they didn’t like the civics lesson.

And don’t forget Tina Peters.  That elderly woman, a former Mesa County elections officer, will soon be in court to defend herself against 10 criminal charges — mostly felonies.  If she had cheated in the 2020 election, she’d probably get a $10 ticket, but she did something much more serious: she made Democrats look silly by absolutely proving there was a massive irregularity in Mesa County’s 2020 election.

Somehow, the Mesa County database had been deleted — then reinstalled.  As a result, voter intent for about 5,500 votes will never be known.  For exposing this, the D.A. was not happy with Peters, and at one point she ended up in handcuffs.  I have a feeling that the lynch mob (“jury”) will also be unhappy with the former elections officer when she appears in court this summer.

Zapata, Wait, and Peters are sincere people who tried to make things better by exposing weaknesses in the election system.  No doubt, they all expected to face consequences for their actions.  However, they probably thought people of good will would assess their technical infractions in the context of the constructive objectives of their actions.  Those are extremely naïve beliefs in 2024 America.

Joe Fried is an Ohio-based CPA who has performed and reviewed hundreds of certified financial audits.  He is the author of the book Debunked? and a new book called How Elections Are Stolen.  It outlines 23 problems that must be fixed before the 2024 elections.  More information can be found at https://joefriedcpa.substack.com (a permanently free subscription).

Voting sign image: cagdesign via Pixabay, Pixabay License.