Maia PandeyAlex Groth
Social media posts about election fraud in Wisconsin have surged since Election Day, surpassing all other battleground states, according to data collected by PeakMetrics, a software analytics company.
Between Nov. 6 and Nov. 12, the number of posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, mentioning election fraud in Wisconsin surged from 2,570 to 22,589 — an approximately 789% increase, according to the report. There has been no evidence to suggest voter fraud is a common issue in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Republican Eric Hovde has been among those sowing doubts about voting integrity on X following the election, which he lost to Sen. Tammy Baldwin.
“Since last Wednesday, numerous parties have reached out to me about voting inconsistencies,” Hovde said in a statement on X.
The Milwaukee Election Commission in a statement said it “unequivocally refutes Eric Hovde’s baseless claims regarding the integrity of our election process.”
“The (Election Commision) celebrates the dedication of Milwaukee residents to participate in the democratic process and is fully confident that Mr. Hovde’s accusations lack any merit,” the commission said in a statement. “Milwaukee voters can rest assured: the (Election Commission) conducted a fair, accurate, and secure election that fully protects voters rights and preserves the democratic process.”
As of Nov. 15, Hovde has yet to concede the race to Baldwin. With 99% of the state’s votes counted, the Democratic senator led Hovde by 49.3% to 48.5%, a margin of 28,958 votes.
Other battleground states see a drop in election fraud social media posts
The surge in Wisconsin posts comes as other battleground states actually saw a downtick in posts claiming election fraud within the last week. On Nov. 11, Wisconsin overtook Arizona as the state most cited in X posts about voter fraud since the election.
By Tuesday, a week after the election, about 70% of all X posts about election fraud in battleground states mentioned Wisconsin, according to PeakMetrics.
The company found most recent posts included allegations that Democrats “stole the Wisconsin Senate seat” and that absentee ballots in Wisconsin are a sign of “criminal election fraud.” It is a well-documented part of Wisconsin’s election process that absentee ballots statewide are counted on Election Day, with results reported all at once, often late in the night.
Alison Dirr and Jessie Opoien contributed to this report.
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