Former President Donald Trump has spent all of Tuesday helping spread conspiracy theories related to the midterm elections.
In a barrage of posts on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that widespread voter fraud had already taken place across the country.
After glitches made some voting machines in Maricopa County, Arizona, temporarily unusable, Trump began promoting allegations that the issues were caused on purpose by Democrats to keep Republicans from voting.
“Reports are coming in from Arizona that the Voting Machines are not properly working in predominantly Republican/Conservative areas,” Trump wrote. “Can this possibly be true when a vast majority of Republicans waited for today to Vote? Here we go again? The people will not stand for it!!!”
Yet despite Trump’s insinuation, the Maricopa County Elections Department announced by the afternoon on Tuesday that it had found a fix for the issue and that no one would be kept from voting.
“Everyone is still getting to vote,” said Bill Gates, a Republican and chairman of the Maricopa County board of supervisors. “No one has been disenfranchised.”
As the day went on, however, Trump continued to suggest that the elections in Arizona were being rigged and in Detroit, Michigan, as well.
“Maricopa County in Arizona looks like a complete Voter Integrity DISASTER,” Trump said. “Likewise Detroit (of course!), Pennsylvania, and other places. Not being covered by the Fake News Media!”
Trump even went on in a follow-up post to demand that his supporters “Protest, Protest, Protest,” a statement that was seen as “MARCHING ORDERS” on the far-right forum The Donald.
In reality, a minor data error, which was quickly fixed, led some in-person Detroit voters to be incorrectly told that they had already been issued an absentee ballot.
In a tweet on the incident, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson pushed back on Trump’s unfounded claims.
“This isn’t true,” she said. “Please don’t spread lies to foment or encourage political violence in our state. Or anywhere. Thanks.”
But the former president did not stop there. As his messages were being spread across social media by prominent conservatives, Trump took things one step further by uploading a video to Truth Social in which he told Arizona voters that voting machine glitches were intended to “delay you out of voting.”
“You can not let them delay you out of voting,” Trump said. “So to the people of Arizona in particular, because thats the one that’s come up right now, stay on line. Don’t leave.”
Trump’s allegations about waiting times in Arizona were also pushed by right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk, who claimed that voters were being forced to wait up to two hours due to a purposeful “traffic jam.”
Kirk’s statement was quickly refuted by the official Twitter account for Maricopa County.
“No part of the tweet below is accurate,” the account said. “The vast majority of Vote Centers are seeing wait times under 30 minutes, and whether by tabulator or secure ballot box, all voters are being served. Find locations and estimated wait times at http://Locations.Maricopa.Vote.”
The three locations targeted by Trump—Arizona, Michigan, and Pennsylvania—are all states he lost in the 2020 election.
