If an election is within 1% in the state of Wisconsin, candidates have a right to ask for a recount, provided that they are willing to pay for it. If an election is within 0.25%, the taxpayers will pay for that recount. It is good for the citizenry to have faith in the outcomes of elections and recounts in close races help build that confidence. What doesn’t build confidence in our election system is when a candidate lies about “irregularities” with the process.
With 99% of votes counted in the state, Senator Tammy Baldwin leads Republican businessman Eric Hovde by 27,364 votes, or by 0.9%. If that margin is still under 1% after the last votes are counted, Hovde has a right to ask for a recount, and rightfully so. Close scrutiny of tight elections is good for our faith in the republic.
It is important to note that several media sources, including conservative Fox News, have called the race in favor of Baldwin, and did so the morning after Election Day. Senator Baldwin gave her victory speech the day after the race was called. But what remains is for Hovde to concede, which is also his right to wait until every vote is counted.
I have worked on losing campaigns. It is heartbreaking and gut-wrenching to dedicate an entire summer to doing the hard work of actually campaigning just to come up short. I can empathize with what Mr. Hovde is feeling in the aftermath of the senate election, and my name was never the one on the ballot.
However, those big feelings aren’t a reason to falsely claim that the election was somehow unfair. Last Tuesday, Hovde posted a video on X which presented false information about the senate election in Wisconsin. In the video he claimed that Senator Baldwin received 90% of the absentee votes in Milwaukee. That’s just simply not true. Senator Baldwin received 82%, which is not far from the Election Day totals from Milwaukee, where she received 75% of the same-day vote. The fact that Hovde didn’t present any actual evidence of irregularities and instead made easily disproven claims demonstrates how desperate he is.
Sadly, we have become accustomed to Republican candidates making false claims about “inconsistencies” about voting in urban areas. These claims, including Hovde’s, are more about who Republicans believe should be allowed to vote (rural and suburban white voters) and who they don’t believe should be allowed to vote (urban voters of color). It is consistent with Republican-implemented voting policies around the country that make it harder for voters in urban areas to vote. As with all of these claims, Hovde fails to provide any actual evidence of these so-called inconsistencies.
Another criticism Hovde makes in his video is that it took Milwaukee until early Wednesday morning to report their results. To someone who doesn’t understand how votes are processed, this may seem unusual and could be a potential red flag. Hovde, however, understands how votes are counted and why the process takes so long, but he would rather sow distrust and fear than admit he lost. Counting absentee ballots is a slow process and state law doesn’t allow for election workers to start counting those ballots until 7 a.m. on Election Day. There was a further delay this year when 30,000 absentee ballots had to be recounted due to a process issue.
Republicans in the State Senate had an opportunity to fix this problem after there were questions about the late-night counts four years ago. A bipartisan law that would have allowed clerks to start counting absentee ballots the day before the election died in the Wisconsin State Senate. Why? Because they would rather be able to make unfounded claims about potential irregularities when they lose than actually fix the problem.
Election Day in Wisconsin was, from an institutional standpoint, a huge success. Voter turnout was among the highest ever in a presidential election in the state. It is estimated that 76.4% of eligible Wisconsin voters participated this year, compared to just 63.5% nationally. You will notice that the many Republicans who won their own races, including President-elect Trump, have not made similar claims to Hovde. This latest episode demonstrates that Wisconsin voters were right to reject Mr. Hovde as his recent behavior is beneath that of someone who aspires to elected office. Much of Hovde’s campaign was about his manliness and machismo (remember the shirtless video in a frozen lake?). Mr. Hovde should man up, concede, and own this loss. I wouldn’t hold my breath though.
(Editor’s note: Hovde conceded the race on Monday, Nov. 18 after this was written.)