Twelve days after news organizations called the Wisconsin U.S. Senate race for Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin, Republican candidate Eric Hovde conceded the race.
Hovde announced on Nov. 18 that he would not seek a recount. In the same video posted to X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, he repeated falsehoods about Milwaukee’s absentee ballots.
“The results from election night were disappointing, particularly in light of the last-minute absentee ballots that were dropped in Milwaukee at 4 a.m., flipping the outcome,” Hovde said.
In a previous video, Hovde also cast doubt on Milwaukee’s absentee ballots and falsely stated Baldwin received nearly 90% of those votes.
Eric Hovde speaks to his supported and tells them to go home and get some sleep afte the election results were not in as of 2 a.m. at his election night party at the Edgewater Hotel in Madison, Wisconsin on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024. Hovde faced against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in the U.S. Senate race. –
But election officials warned long before Election Day that Milwaukee’s absentee ballots would be reported late in the night, or in the early morning hours of the next day. It wasn’t a fraudulent ‘drop.’
Let’s explain.
State law only allows processing absentee ballots on Election Day
Wisconsin election experts told PolitiFact that this early morning influx of ballots was expected — and they not only don’t signal anything nefarious, they resulted from adherence to the law.
That’s because state law does not allow election workers to process absentee ballots before Election Day — a bipartisan bill to change that passed the Assembly, but Republicans in the state Senate did not take it up.
The claims echo falsehoods about the 2020 election, which included the same criticisms of Milwaukee’s early morning absentee ballot influxes.
“This is something that everybody who’s familiar with elections in Wisconsin understands will happen,” said Jay Heck, executive director of the public advocacy group Common Cause Wisconsin.
Wisconsin is one of two swing states — and one of seven states total — that does not begin to process absentee ballots before Election Day, he said.
The 4 a.m. influx of absentee ballots was “only indicative” of that, said Claire Woodall, a senior adviser at Issue One, a group advocating for transparency and clean government.
“The ‘influx’ in the results was reflective of the number of absentee ballots that the City of Milwaukee tabulated and were known to still be outstanding at 8 p.m. on Election Night,” she said.
Woodall, who served as the City of Milwaukee’s Election Commission executive director from 2020 to 2024, wrote in an email that “results from Milwaukee’s Central Count have come in between 12 a.m. and 4 a.m. every Presidential Election due to the restrictive state laws.”
Results were delayed further because of tabulation error
Milwaukee’s absentee results were further delayed because of a human error, but even before that, officials estimated final results wouldn’t be released until the early morning hours.
After an election observer noticed that doors on tabulator machines were not fully secured, more than 30,000 absentee ballots were recounted out of an “abundance of caution” and after consulting with Democrats and Republicans.
A Milwaukee Election Commission statement said the city had “no doubt regarding the integrity of the election.”
As of Nov. 11, the commission’s updated statement said Milwaukee’s Board of Election Commissioners had certified the general election results.
After Hovde mentioned Milwaukee’s 4 a.m. election results, city election officials rebutted his claims in a Nov. 11 Instagram post.
“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,” the Election Commission wrote.
“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 commission said.
The Milwaukee Election Commission called Hovde’s claims “baseless” and said it was “fully confident” that his claims lacked merit.
Our ruling
In his latest video conceding the Wisconsin U.S. Senate election, Eric Hovde repeated claims that “last-minute absentee ballots … were dropped in Milwaukee at 4 a.m.”
But Milwaukee’s absentee results were long expected to be reported late in the night or early the next day, because state law doesn’t allow clerks to begin processing the large number of ballots until Election Day.
The results were delayed further because of a tabulation error, though both parties were consulted on the decision to recount nearly 30,000 ballots.
We rate this claim Pants on Fire!
Sources
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Republican Eric Hovde concedes defeat to U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, repeats false claims, Nov. 18, 2024.
Eric Hovde, X, Nov. 18, 2024.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Fact check: Hovde’s claim Baldwin won ‘nearly 90%’ of absentee votes is a flop, Nov. 15, 2024.
PolitiFact, No, an early morning influx of Milwaukee votes doesn’t prove the Wisconsin Senate race was stolen, Nov. 14, 2024.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, GOP lets absentee ‘ballot dump’ measure die, leaving door open to false fraud claims, March 13, 2024.
PolitiFact, Yes, slow absentee count explains supposed “ballot dump” in Milwaukee, Jan. 15, 2021.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Milwaukee rerunning more than 30,000 absentee ballots over error, delaying results, Nov. 6, 2024.
Milwaukee Election Commission, Election News and Updates, Nov. 13, 2024.
Milwaukee Election Commission, Instagram, Nov. 11, 2024.
(This story was updated to add a video.)
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Eric Hovde repeats falsehoods about Milwaukee absentee results
