US President Donald Trump has ramped up rhetoric on the country's electoral system ahead of this year's midterm elections, calling on Republicans to "nationalise" voting and repeating false claims that past elections were rigged.
Trump said he believed the federal government should “get involved” in elections that are riddled with “corruption.”
If states “can’t count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over,” he said in the Oval Office.
Earlier this week, Trump told podcaster and former FBI deputy director Dan Bongino, “ The Republicans should say, 'We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least — many, 15 places.' The Republicans ought to nationalise the voting."
His comments have drawn criticism from Democrats and come as Republicans face the prospect of losing control of Congress in the November 3 midterms.
Polls show low approval ratings for Trump in his second term, while Republicans have suffered a series of losses in local elections.
Trump has doubled down on long-standing but debunked claims of widespread voter fraud.
“I don't know why the federal government doesn’t do them anyway,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday, when asked about his remarks.
In an interview with NBC News aired on Wednesday, Trump alleged that "there are some areas in our country that are extremely corrupt," adding that if elections "can't be done properly and timely, then something else has to happen."
Constitutional concerns
Trump's remarks have raised concerns about potential clashes with the US Constitution, which assigns responsibility for running elections to individual states.
Despite repeated court rulings confirming the legitimacy of the 2020 election, Trump has continued to insist it was rigged.
"It was a rigged election. Everybody now knows that," he said at the Davos forum in January.
In recent weeks, federal authorities have seized ballots and voting materials in Georgia as part of a probe into Trump's 2020 defeat in the state, while the Justice Department has filed lawsuits in around 20 states seeking access to voting records.
Critics say the moves risk undermining confidence in the upcoming elections.
