Fact-check: Donald Trump's midterm fraud claims

Trump's remarks concerned three highly contested states, but eventually centered on Maricopa County in Arizona

In a series of posts on his Truth Social platform, Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed midterm elections were being stolen from Republicans, accusing vote officials of enabling fraud.

The former president's remarks concerned three highly contested states, but eventually centered on Maricopa County in Arizona, culminating in him uploading a video statement.

Trump is not on the ballot, but a Republican victory in the midterms is expected to hasten an announcement that he intends to run for the White House again in 2024.

AFP fact checks key quotes from Trump's Truth Social activity.

Also Read: US midterms to decide Biden, Trump's political future

"Don't leave your line. They say that the machines aren't working. They want to delay you out of voting and you cannot allow them to delay you out of voting," Trump said in the video.

Early Tuesday, officials in Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, said about 20 percent of 223 polling stations there were experiencing difficulties, but insisted it would not affect the probity of the poll.

The problems, however, fed rancor online, with a tweet from Trump acolyte and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk claiming a "2 hour wait minimum at most polling places in Maricopa." That claim preceded Trump's remarks about alleged delays.

Also Read: Trump says he will make a 'big announcement' on November 15

In response, Maricopa County on its official Twitter account screen shotted Kirk's tweet and said: "No part of the tweet below is accurate. The vast majority of Vote Centers are seeing wait times under 30 minutes."

Regarding problems with machines, the county added: "Whether by tabulator or secure ballot box, all voters are being served."

The Maricopa County Elections Department also weighed in, tweeting: "Right now, 111 polling locations have no wait times." The department included a link to voting locations to try and direct citizens to sites without wait times.

Shortly before his video, Trump posted: "They are trying to steal the election with bad Machines and DELAY. Don't let it happen!"

The claim of a stolen election echoes what Trump said in 2020, when he lost the presidency to Joe Biden. Dozens of court cases in which Trump and other Republicans alleged fraud were thrown out in the months that followed his election loss.

On Tuesday, a Maricopa County judge denied a request from Republican candidates and groups, including the Republican National Committee, to extend polling hours in response to the problems with voting machines, saying he had not seen evidence that voters were precluded from voting.

Using the words "complete Voter Integrity DISASTER" and citing Detroit and Pennsylvania, Trump said irregularities were "not being covered by the Fake News Media!"

In relation to Detroit, the claim relates to e-pollbooks, which are used to confirm by poll workers that a voter is registered and has not been issued or has not cast an absentee ballot.

Trump posted: "The Absentee Ballot situation in Detroit is REALLY BAD. People are showing up to Vote only to be told, 'sorry, you have already voted.' This is happening in large numbers, elsewhere as well. Protest, Protest, Protest!"

In response, the Michigan Department of State said in a statement that "in a few instances this morning upon checking in a voter" error messages had been displayed when reconciling a hand ballot with an absentee ballot already issued, but the issue had been fixed on site. "In all circumstances, eligible voters were able to vote," the statement added.

For weeks, officials in Pennsylvania -- which does not allow mail-in ballots to be processed before Election Day -- have said a result would take longer to tabulate. Trump however posted: "Pennsylvania just announced that it could take days to determine the winner. This is outrageous!"