Brandtjen: Fake military voters remain on Wisconsin voter rolls

The Wisconsin state representative who got three fake military ballots in the mail two years ago is now getting mail for at least one of those same fake people.

Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, on Tuesday said she recently got a letter for Holly Adams.

“'Holly Adams is one of several fictitious military names the Milwaukee deputy clerk created to send legitimate ballots to my home. To clarify, a Milwaukee clerk used fake identities to send authentic ballots to my address. Eighteen months after discovering this, I am still receiving mail for the fictitious 'Holly Adams,'” Brandtjen said.

Brandtjen made headlines in October of 2022 when she turned three fake military ballots over to investigators. It turned out, a former deputy clerk in Milwaukee’s election office sent them to her house by registering fake voters.

The clerk said she sent the ballots to expose a loophole in Wisconsin’s MyVote system.

Brandtjen said she continues to get mail for one of those fake voters shows MyVote continues to have problems.

“Initially, I thought it was a sick joke, but with the help of individuals who purchased the voter list, I was shocked to learn that ‘Holly Adams’ is voter ID# 701923079. ‘Holly Brandtjen’ is also voter ID# 701923081, and ‘Holly Jones’ is voter ID # 701923080. All these fabricated names are listed in the WisVote system, though inactive and without voting history, but they are being sold to the public on the voter list,” Brandtjen added. “What does this say about the security of our elections? The Wisconsin Elections Commission and the three municipal clerks failed to remove these fake military identities even after the Milwaukee Deputy Clerk, Kim Zapata, was found guilty of election fraud.”

Zapata received probation for her conviction.

Once on Wisconsin’s voter list, no one ever comes off. They are either active or inactive, and Brandtjen said all three fake military voters are inactive.

Still, she said they are on the list, and people can buy that list to target them as voters. Even though they never existed.

“The presence of these illegitimate military voters in the WisVote system highlights a blatant disregard for maintaining an accurate voter registry. Even though they are inactive and have no voting history, the system can be updated daily. There is no plausible reason for these names to remain on the inactive list after being implicated in election fraud,” Brandtjen added. “This negligence fosters distrust in the system, and unfortunately, no one will be held accountable for this incompetence.”