- Trump suggested without evidence that a "large" amount of absentee voter fraud was underway in Detroit.
- He also urged people to "Protest, Protest, Protest!"
Former President Donald Trump claimed without evidence that a "large" amount of absentee voter fraud was underway in Detroit, Michigan on Tuesday.
"The Absentee Ballot situation in Detroit is REALLY BAD," Trump wrote on his social media website Truth Social. "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!"
Shortly after Trump made the post, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, whose office oversees election administration in the state, corrected the record and suggested Trump was inciting violence.
"This isn't true," she tweeted from her official account. "Please don't spread lies to foment or encourage political violence in our state. Or anywhere. Thanks."
Trump's baseless post appeared to echo claims that Kristina Karamo, the Republican candidate running for secretary of state in Michigan, made earlier Tuesday.
"This is why we filed the lawsuit in Detroit. Voters show up -- only to be told they already voted absentee," she tweeted. "It's already happening. This is a CRIME, not an oversight."
Karamo's lawsuit, filed last month, sought to bar Detroit voters from casting mail ballots. The lawsuit cited purported issues with signature verification and ballot drop boxes and asked a judge for an injunction that would require voters who had already voted by mail to do so again at a local polling site.
But Judge Timothy Kenny dismissed Karamo's lawsuit Monday, issuing a scathing opinion saying she had "raised a false flag of election law violations and corruption concerning Detroit's procedures for the November 8th election."
"This Court's ruling takes down that flag," Kenny wrote.
The judge went on to note that the plaintiffs "sat on their hands for months before bringing a complaint" that, if granted, "would create the potential harm of disenfranchising tens of thousands" of Detroit voters in the midterm election.
"This is unacceptable and cannot be permitted," he added.
This story is developing. Check back for updates.