US PresidentDonald Trumpclaimed on Wednesday without evidence that aVirginiavote to redraw the state's congressional map in a way that favors Democrats had been "rigged," as a county judge moved to block the measure.
On Tuesday,Virginiavoters approved a redistrictingreferendumthat could help Democrats flip as many as four Republican-held seats in the US House of Representatives and boost Democrats' chances of winning control of the chamber in November.
Trump, a Republican, wrote in a socialmediapost that "A RIGGED ELECTION TOOK PLACE LAST NIGHT IN THE GREAT COMMONWEALTH OFVIRGINIA!" and blamed mail-in ballots for the outcome.
The post was the latest example of Trump casting doubt on election outcomes he dislikes by portraying ordinary vote counting, particularly the tabulation of mail ballots, as evidence offraudwithout offering proof.
The referendum has already faced multiple legal challenges.
The Supreme Court ofVirginiaallowed the referendum to proceed but may end up invalidating it, making the results moot.
Read moreVirginia redistricting vote could boost Democrats in US midterms
And in a separate case that also looks likely to end back up at theSupreme Court, aVirginiacounty judge, in response to alawsuitfiled by the Republican National Committee, blocked the new map on Wednesday, ruling lawmakers had not followed the rules for the constitutional amendment that the map redrawing required.
VirginiaAttorney General Jay Jones, a Democrat, said he would ask the state's Court of Appeals to overturn Circuit Court Judge Jack Hurley Jr.'s order, which called the ballotlanguage"flagrantly misleading" and blocked the state from certifying Tuesday's referendum results.
The referendum inVirginiais the latest twist in the nation's redistricting arms race, which Trump andTexasRepublicans began last year as they sought to defend the party's slim House majority during the midtermelectionsin November.
Trump, who has not accepted that he lost the 2020 presidential election despite having failed in dozens of courts to challenge the results, has consistently sought to undermine faith in the voting process.
After his 2020 loss to PresidentJoe Biden, Trump falsely claimed widespread fraud and backed efforts to overturn the result, including pressuring his then vice president,Mike Pence, to not certify the election results.
Courts, state election officials and his own administration have since found no evidence of fraud on a scale that would have changed the outcome.
In recent months, the Trump administration has stepped up its effort to revive claims of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election. The Justice Department is seeking a swath of state voter data, while theFBIhas reopened old election-fraud allegations in battleground states including Georgia.
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters)
Originally published on France24
