In the history of political career-ending statements, a Republican senatorial candidate made a very ill-advised statement. Republican Eric Hovde, in a recent interview, questioned the validity of nursing home patients’ votes and asked whether they should be allowed to vote.
Eric Hovde is a Republican candidate for senator representing Wisconsin. He publicly supports Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and is one of the most recent Trump supporters to question the legitimacy of the 2020 electoral results.
Hovde, in an interview on April 5, questions the ability of nursing home residents to vote, claiming that anyone there has a life expectancy of less than six months. In a later interview with a podcast, he was seen questioning nursing homes in Racine County. He inquired why the facilities felt recording their patients’ voting was necessary.
Talking about nursing home patients, he said that almost everyone there has passed the stage of suffrage. He further said that, given they have less than six months to live, there was a need for their votes. Additionally, he claimed that after the recording surfaced, children of patients showed up at the institution, demanding who voted on their parent’s behalf.
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Although a media representative tried to control some damage, it had no effect. The representative issued a statement that Hovde’s did not imply that senior citizens should be disenfranchised.
Hovde campaign spokesman, Ben Voelkel, tried to justify that the statement was not a general one but rather only about the incident at Racine County. The county was plagued by family members who expressed worries about their relatives voting.
Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the Democratic candidate Hovde is running against, has been one of the critics of his statements. According to her, Thousands of Wisconsinans in retirement homes could be disenfranchised by Hovde’s comments. She claimed his fear of losing, tied to policies like raising the retirement age to 72, could explain his comments.
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Another critic was basketball legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who gave his opinion. He expressed concern about stripping away the rights of those who dedicated their lives to nation-building. He added that even if there was election fraud, the sim should be to expose it and not disenfranchise a group of people.
Voting at nursing homes and how residents cast their ballots have been contentious issues in Wisconsin since 2020, when followers of the late President Donald Trump claimed that residents were casting ballots without authorization.
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In addition to not facing any charges, President Joe Biden’s triumph against Trump has weathered many legal challenges, including a partial recount, a study by a conservative law firm, and a neutral audit.
However, Hovde has brought up the subject of voting in senior homes while discussing issues he claimed to be related to the 2020 election. Republicans contest the nursing home vote even though audits show that Biden won.
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