President Donald Trump briefly confused Brazil with India in a late-night Truth Social post about Sunday’s Brazilian presidential election, incorrectly telling his followers that 125 million people had voted in “India’s Presidential Election” before deleting the message and reposting it with the correct country.

The mistake came as Trump sought to contrast Brazil’s rapid vote count with the lengthier process used in parts of the United States, arguing that American elections should be able to produce results much more quickly.

“125 Million People voted today in the first round of India’s Presidential Election. The results came out shortly after the vote closed, on the SAME DAY!” Trump wrote in the original post, which was published at approximately 11:32 p.m. ET Sunday.

There was one significant problem: India had held no presidential election. Brazil had gone to the polls Sunday for the first round of its presidential contest between incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, conservative Senator Flávio Bolsonaro and other candidates.

Trump’s figure of 125 million voters was, however, remarkably close to Brazil’s actual turnout. Official figures from Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court showed approximately 125.3 million voters participated in Sunday’s election.

The error was quickly corrected. Trump removed the original post and published essentially the same message again, this time correctly identifying Brazil as the country that had held the election.

“125 Million People voted today in the first round of Brazil’s Presidential Election. The results came out shortly after the vote closed, on the SAME DAY! In Detroit, Philadelphia, California, and numerous other U.S. Cities and States, the results, with much smaller numbers, will often take weeks to Rig, I mean, calculate. Voting in America is CORRUPT!!!” Trump wrote in the corrected version.

Screenshots and archived versions of the initial post confirmed that Trump had originally written “India” before changing it to “Brazil.”

The distinction is particularly notable because India does not directly elect its president through a nationwide popular vote. India’s president is selected indirectly by an electoral college consisting of elected members of Parliament and state legislative assemblies.

Brazil, by contrast, held its first-round presidential election on October 4. With virtually all ballots counted, Flávio Bolsonaro finished first with 47.03 percent of valid votes, receiving approximately 56.1 million votes. Lula finished second with 45.16 percent, receiving approximately 53.9 million votes.

Because neither candidate received more than 50 percent of the valid vote, Bolsonaro and Lula will face each other in a runoff election on October 25.

Trump’s underlying argument focused on the striking speed with which Brazil tabulates its election results. Brazil uses a nationally standardized electronic voting system, allowing authorities to process results from across the country rapidly after polls close.

The United States operates under a substantially different system. Elections are administered primarily under state law, meaning procedures vary widely from state to state. Some jurisdictions also accept mail ballots that arrive after Election Day if they were properly postmarked, while election officials must verify signatures and complete other processing requirements before those ballots can be counted.

For that reason, the fact that some American jurisdictions continue counting ballots for days after Election Day does not by itself indicate fraud. Trump provided no evidence in the post to support his allegation that slower counting in Detroit, Philadelphia, California or elsewhere is the result of elections being “rigged.”

The president has long criticized extended ballot-counting periods and mail voting, repeatedly arguing that the United States should move toward elections in which voting and counting are completed far more rapidly.

His Brazil post was intended to reinforce that argument, pointing to a country with a population of more than 200 million that was able to report the overwhelming majority of its presidential vote within hours.

Instead, the original version of the post attracted attention for the Brazil-India mix-up. Several Indian news organizations quickly highlighted the mistake, noting both that India had held no election that day and that its president is not chosen through a direct national popular vote.

Trump did not publicly address the error when he corrected the message, and the White House did not immediately provide an explanation for how “India” appeared in the original post.

The corrected post remained focused on Trump’s broader criticism of American election administration, with the president declaring, “Voting in America is CORRUPT!!!”

{Matzav.com}