Trump claims US does not have ‘real elections,’ calls for paper ballots

Former President Trump took his latest swipe at the United States election system during a speech to Michigan Republicans on Sunday.

During a speech to Oakland County Republicans in Michigan on Sunday, Trump said that he saved the steel industry in Michigan by placing tariffs on foreign aluminum and steel when he was president. He said that there would be no country without steel, borders or elections, which he said were "fake" in the U.S.

"And if you don't have steel, you don't have a country, like borders, like elections, got to have real elections," he said during the keynote address. "We don't really real elections, we have fake elections."

Trump, who has repeatedly falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen from him, also said that he wants same-day voting on Election Day, paper ballots and instating requirements for voter ID. He said Democrats do not want to implement those measure because they want to "cheat."

"They also want no voter ID because they want to cheat," Trump said. "They don't want to same day voting better one paper ballots. They never want any of that stuff because they want to cheat on elections."

Trump and many of his allies have claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump due to voter fraud, even though there was no evidence of widespread election fraud in the 2020 election. Nearly 40 percent of Republicans in a poll ahead of the midterms last year said they would blame voter fraud if the GOP did not regain control of Congress.

In a recent survey published this month, about three in 10 Americans still say President Biden won the 2020 election because of voter fraud.