Trump Calls US Voting "Corrupt"... Criticizes American Elections Again

Harsh Criticism in Comparison with the Brazilian Election
Mail-In Voting Allowed, Procedures Vary by State in the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump once again criticized the U.S. election system as "corrupt," referencing the speedy ballot counting in Brazil's presidential election.

U.S. President Donald Trump. White House website

On the night of October 4 (local time), President Trump posted on the social networking service Truth Social, stating, "Today, in the first round of Brazil's presidential election, 125 million people voted, and the results came out on the same day, right after the polls closed."

He continued, "In Detroit, Philadelphia, California, and many other U.S. cities and states, it often takes several weeks to count far fewer votes," sarcastically adding, "to manipulate—or rather, to count—them," and asserted, "Voting in the United States is corrupt."

When President Trump first uploaded the post, he reportedly wrote "Indian presidential election" by mistake instead of Brazil, but later deleted and corrected it to Brazil.

The reason Brazil's ballot counting is faster than in the United States is due to differences in electoral systems. Brazil uses a uniform nationwide electronic voting system and counting procedures. Unlike the United States, it does not conduct mail-in voting.

In contrast, in the United States, each state sets its own election procedures, including the scope of mail-in voting allowed, the timing for processing and verifying ballots, and the deadline for receiving ballots, all of which vary by state. In particular, some states restrict the counting of mail-in ballots before Election Day, so in-person votes are tallied first, and mail-in ballots are added afterward, which can delay the announcement of final results.

During this process, the so-called "Red Mirage" phenomenon can occur, where Republican candidates initially lead early in the count, but as mail-in ballots are counted, Democratic candidates catch up or overtake them.

The 2020 presidential election is a representative example. Back then, in battleground states such as Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, President Trump had an early lead, but Joe Biden, the former president, overtook him as mail-in ballots were tallied later.

However, there has been no evidence confirming that lengthy ballot counting constitutes election fraud. U.S. election authorities and courts did not accept President Trump’s claims that the 2020 presidential election featured widespread fraud on a scale that could have reversed the results.

Even after leaving office, President Trump has continued to push for election system reforms as a key agenda item. The "SAVE America Act" promoted by the Republican Party requires submitting proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections and strengthens the requirement to present a photo ID at the polls. It also introduces new restrictions to the mail-in ballot process.

The bill passed the House of Representatives but was not processed in the Senate, as it failed to secure the 60 votes needed to end a Democratic filibuster.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.