Hovde Won’t Concede, Offers Baseless Election Fraud Charges
Republican Senate candidate attacks Milwaukee results and casts doubts on recounts.
“Throughout my campaign, I’ve emphasized the need to come together, restore trust in our elections, reduce divisions and focus on building a better Wisconsin for everyone,” says Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde in a newly-released video.
But coming together doesn’t include conceding that Tammy Baldwin won the election. And “restoring trust in our elections” now includes casting substantial doubt about the legitimacy of 108,325 votes in Milwaukee.
“I was shocked by what unfolded on election night. At 1 a.m. I was receiving calls of congratulations, and based on the models, it appeared I would win the senate race,” says Hovde.
But Hovde’s followers and modelers appear to have celebrated too soon.
At 11:05 p.m., Urban Milwaukee reported that the city had 108,325 absentee votes it would report in the early morning hours. At 11:30 p.m., using rough math to compare the number of absentee results outstanding to prior election results, Urban Milwaukee reported that Democrats could expect to gain 90,000 votes from all of Milwaukee County’s outstanding absentee ballots. The total would have been enough to erase the appearance of a lead for Hovde. Other individuals analyzing results before Milwaukee absentee ballots were reported also concluded that the Senate race would be close, while Donald Trump already appeared to have enough to defeat Kamala Harris.
Hovde, in his video, claims that Baldwin won nearly 90% of those 107,568 city absentee ballots cast in the Senate race. “Statistically, this outcome seems improbable as it didn’t match the patterns of same day voting in Milwaukee where I received 22% of the votes,” says Hovde. But the results posted on the city website, which were certified Monday, show Baldwin won 82% of the vote and Hovde 16.4%. Those percentages are consistent with what Urban Milwaukee recorded as the votes were being uploaded to the county’s website at 4:30 a.m. Hovde, according to city results, won 21.7% of election day votes, further shrinking the gap.
Baldwin earned approximately 70,000 more of the city’s absentee votes than Hovde, giving her a statewide lead of approximately 16,000 once they were reported. The New York Times, based on unofficial results, currently has Baldwin winning Wisconsin by 29,116 votes.
The timing issue stems from a statewide restriction on processing early votes until polls open. Wisconsin is one of only two states with a restriction on any pre-election processing, which results in hours of opening, sorting, processing and recording ballots before any tabulating can be done. The issue is further compounded because absentee ballots continue to arrive on election day, with the city’s total growing from approximately 106,000 to 108,325 by the time polls closed at 8 p.m. Milwaukee, which wasn’t the last to report, saw a further delay because of a need to reprocess approximately 31,000 ballots following a failure to properly lock tabulating machines. Hovde’s video doesn’t mention Oak Creek, which still had more than 12,000 absentee ballots outstanding at the time Milwaukee’s were reported.
Hovde’s four-minute video casts several questions about election data that don’t hold up.
“Somehow, Harris received only 1,100 less votes than [Joe Biden] did, which is not consistent with most major cities,” says Hovde, while citing a decline in the city’s population and preregistered voters. But, while the city residents cast 2,000 more total votes in a 2024 race that drew a surge in turnout across the state, Harris received almost 3,000 votes less than Biden and Trump received 3,000 more than he did in 2020. Hovde does not mention the latter, nor that Trump outperformed him statewide.
Hovde also notes that certain wards had turnouts of more than 150%. Such figures are computed by the total of number of votes cast compared to previously registered voters and can yield eye-popping percentages, but can often be attributed to high turnouts and wards where residents both move frequently and are not regular voters. Based on a review of Milwaukee County Election Commission data, only one such ward exceeded 150%: ward 187. The ward in question consists of the western edge of the Marquette University campus and includes substantial student housing.
An official canvas is to be completed by Nov. 19, giving Hovde the chance to formally request a recount. But Hovde is already casting doubt about the validity of such a process.
“There are meaningful limits on a recount because they don’t look at the integrity of a ballot,” says Hovde. He then pivots to attack the third-party candidates on the ballot and how they received support from individuals affiliated with the Democratic Party. “If either of the candidates had not been in the race, the outcome would be different today.” Perhaps, but that’s neither illegal nor unusual.
Many people have reached out to me with concerns about the voting inconsistencies we experienced on Election Day. Here are my thoughts: pic.twitter.com/zDvaeHaizw
— Eric Hovde (@EricHovde) November 12, 2024
While this article was being edited, the Milwaukee Election Commission issued a statement: “The Milwaukee Election Commission (MEC) unequivocally refutes Eric Hovde’s baseless claims regarding the integrity of our election process. Every aspect of the MEC’s operations was conducted with transparency and in strict adherence to established laws and procedures. It is both expected and routine that absentee ballots—over 100,000 in this case—are counted and reported in the late hours of Election Night due to Wisconsin’s high voter turnout and the rigorous verification standards the MEC upholds. Unlike states led by both Republicans and Democrats that permit absentee ballots to be processed ahead of Election Day, Wisconsin does not, which can result in the reporting of large numbers of absentee ballots late at night. The state of Wisconsin proudly allows same-day voter registration, and this historic election saw record-breaking turnout as many newly registered voters exercised their right to support their preferred candidates. The MEC celebrates the dedication of Milwaukee residents to participate in the democratic process and is fully confident that Mr. Hovde’s accusations lack any merit. Milwaukee voters can rest assured: the MEC conducted a fair, accurate, and secure election that fully protects voter rights and preserves the democratic process.”
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More about the 2024 Election Day
- Hovde Won’t Concede, Offers Baseless Election Fraud Charges - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 12th, 2024
- Rep. Rodriguez Hangs Onto Assembly Seat - Graham Kilmer - Nov 6th, 2024
- Russell Antonio Goodwin, Jr. Wins Northwest Side Assembly Seat - Graham Kilmer - Nov 6th, 2024
- Habush Sinykin Defeats Stroebel, Flips Senate Seat For Dems - Graham Kilmer - Nov 6th, 2024
- Donovan Fends Off Second Challenge from Bird - Graham Kilmer - Nov 6th, 2024
- He’s Back, Donald Trump Wins Presidency - Graham Kilmer - Nov 6th, 2024
- Vining Win Reduces Republican Majority in Assembly - Graham Kilmer - Nov 6th, 2024
- With Milwaukee Absentees, Baldwin Narrowly Edges Hovde - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 6th, 2024
- Sen. Ron Johnson Appears at Milwaukee’s Central Count, Calls It ‘Unbelievably Sloppy’ - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 5th, 2024
- Milwaukee’s Absentee Results Expected To Be Very Late, Processing Starting Over - Jeramey Jannene - Nov 5th, 2024
Read more about 2024 Election Day here
1. If he was surprised by the late addition of absentee ballots from Milwaukee, he wasn’t paying attention because the MEC was telling everyone weeks before election day that they won’t count over 100k of ballots until after polls close. That is because the Republican legislature won’t change the law, even though there was a bill to do that. I’m guessing the Republicans didn’t change the law for this exact reason – they can blame Milwaukee ‘fraud’ for election results they don’t like. Strangely no one is saying that Trump’s results were fraudulent…
2. Only 5% more of the absentee vote went to Baldwin compared to in-person voting; a higher percentage is expected considering Democrats vote absentee in greater numbers than Republicans. Doesn’t Hovde remember Trump claiming absentee ballots are all fraudulent and only in-person votes should count?
3. Republicans were supporting Jill Stein as a 3rd-party candidate; I personally received several mailings telling me to vote for Stein over Harris. Those mailings were all funded by Republican-affiliated groups.
4. Don’t worry, Senator Ronny Johnson was on-hand at Milwaukee central count to personally ensure no fraud occurred…oh wait, he was also there to spread around lies and get mad when the MEC didn’t nicely answer his stupid self-serving questions.
Sorry Eric, Wisconsin already has a rich, batshit crazy Republican senator who doesn’t care about anyone except his own pocketbook. Go back to your mansion in California and run for the Senate there.
Did anyone expect anything different from a MAGAt
Go back home Hovde and stop bothering us.
So sad that he was getting congratulations too early. The result was decided when the polls closed, but the winner isn’t determined until all votes are counted. No early results make any difference. Maybe he’ll now spend his big money to lobby his fellow Republicans to allow earlier counting of absentee ballots.
The door’s that way. Don’t make us have to show you out.
When a Politician like HOVDE promised to work for free (if elected). the caution flag should have gone up. I mean, would you hire anyone in your business who says that they don’t have to listen or answer to anyone? While it might seem noble to some, use the former President & felon as the perfect example. Even if they do “give” it away, don’t forget that they will write it off and pay less taxes…resulting in a bigger benefit to themselves than to the taxpayer. 3 home HODVE was just in it for his ego.
Thank God someone was able to dust off the old ReTrumplican election-day playbook and claim voter fraud when they lose!
Congratulations, Eric! We’re proud that you so easily and predictably claimed your rightful place in MAGA world by doing exactly what the felon-in-chief would have done had his race in Wisconsin gone the other way.
Now it’s time for him to either concede or ask for a recount. Either way, he’s a loser. Time for him to whine his way back to his real home in California.
The GOP playbook from the start was about sowing doubt and misinformation to their followers. If they win, the problem magically never gets mentioned. But one of them loses – even if they won the presidency – then fallback and doubts they themselves propagated. All of which shows a contempt for democratic elections. Nothing fascist about that at all!
I worked at Central Count and absentee/early voting ballots were still being counted when I left at 0100. No one knew what the final City of Milwaukee tally would be until sometime after that.
I am highly offended at Mr Hovde’s baseless claims.
If you want an earlier tally than the WI legislature knows what it must do!
Verhal:
The gutless, spineless WI Legislature will never condone allowing absentee ballots to be counted earlier, as this is their failsafe position, used to point to baseless election fraud, election rigging and other forms of unhinged, false claims of cheating upon which to blame their electoral losses.
The playbook says “Always make a loss the fault of someone else”, and “Never concede a loss. If you never concede a loss, you can’t be labeled a loser”. Unfortunately, that’s the new American Way for half of our country.
If the right things Trump and Hovde says the election is fraudulent, doesn’t that puncture Trump’s claim?