During the roughly 4 1/2-minute video, Hovde listed a number of concerns about “voting inconsistencies” in the Nov. 5 presidential election that also saw Trump defeat Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris .

In the videomarking Hovde’s first public statement since the election, the Madison business owner said he was “shocked by what happened on election night.”

“At 1 a.m. I was getting congratulatory calls, and based on the models it looked like I was going to win the Senate race,” he said. “Then at 4 a.m., Milwaukee reported approximately 108,000 mail-in ballots, with Sen. Baldwin receiving nearly 90 percent of those ballots. Statistically, this outcome seems unlikely.”

Hovde’s complaint echoed previous GOP criticism of the late counting of mail-in ballots at the state’s central counting sites, such as in Milwaukee. Ballot counting usually takes place early the day after Election Day, but this year it took even longer than usual because some poll workers forgot to lock the doors of the ballot tabulators.

The problem meant workers had to bake about 30,000 ballots in the machines, which officials at the time said would delay the count several hours longer than it otherwise would have taken.

Wisconsin’s 72 counties are still completing their official analysis of the results, which involves eliminating any invalid ballots or other discrepancies in the unofficial results.

In his video, Hovde questioned same-day voter registrations in Milwaukee County, which he said “jumped almost 50 percent on a rainy day,” and he repeated a claim first made times on social media on election night that some precincts in Milwaukee had “turnout of more than 100% of registered voters.”

The discrepancy may be explained by the fact that Wisconsin conducts same-day voter registration. The number of registered voters reported by municipalities was that before election day; the number of registrations on the day has not yet been counted.

A municipality in Milwaukee County that reported more votes than registered voters on election night, Oak Creek, was won by Hovde. The city of West Bend also had over 100% turnout, with Hovde receiving 60% of the vote.

“Eric Hovde has sunk as low as a politician can go: he is sowing doubt about our very democracy. Leaders on both sides should condemn the lies he is spreading and the pathetic campaign he continues to run,” Baldwin campaign spokesman Andrew Mamo said in a statement. “Tammy Baldwin won this race and Eric Hovde only has one thing to do. do: concede.

Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Dianne Hesselbein, D-Middleton, called Hovde’s comments “unfortunate.”

“I don’t know what candidate Eric Hovde is trying to propose,” Hesselbein said. “It’s a shame he didn’t choose to concede.” It’s clear that Tammy Baldwin won and it’s a shame he’s playing games.

Between 49.4% and 48.5%, Baldwin’s margin over his Republican rival was less than 1 point needed to benefit from a recount. But because that’s more than a quarter of a percentage point, Hovde’s campaign would have to pay for any recount. He has until three days after the end of the official procedures, which should end around November 19, to make a decision.

“Once the final information is available and all options have been considered, I will announce my decision on how I want to proceed,” Hovde said in the video.

As for votes reported late Wednesday morning, according to Milwaukee County Elections Director Michelle Hawley, there were 107,568 absentee ballots cast in the Senate race, of which 88,229, or 82.02 percent, were cast. for Baldwin and 17,699 for Hovde. On Election Day, 243,543 votes were cast in the Senate race, including 190,827, or 78.35 percent, for Baldwin and 47,273 for Hovde.

Historically, absentee voters tend to be more Democratic than those who show up on Election Day.

Hovde also denounced a “fraudulent candidate” in Tuesday’s vote, referring to America First candidate Thomas Leager, a far-right candidate who was recruited by Democratic operatives and donors to run as a conservative. Hovde repeated these criticisms in Tuesday’s video.

More than 71,000 votes went to third-party candidates in the U.S. Senate race, with Leager receiving just over 28,700. Libertarian candidate Phil Anderson received more than 42,000 votes.

“Is this the democratic process we want? Confidence in our elections is essential for the proper functioning of democracy,” he said, before adding: “What happened in these elections n “does not inspire confidence in our process, and that is a mistake.”