President Trump [Yonhap News Agency file photo]

U.S. President Donald Trump on the 18th (local time) ordered an investigation by the Department of Justice, raising suspicions of election fraud in connection with errors in the mailing of mail-in ballots for the primary election in Maryland.

Trump stated this on his social media platform Truth Social on the same day, saying, "500,000 illegal mail-in ballots were sent in Maryland and caught."

According to Fox News reports, in Maryland, some of the 400,000 voters who applied for mail-in ballots last weekend received primary election ballots from a different party than the one they registered with.

Primaries are procedures to select the Republican and Democratic candidates who will run in the general election in November.

In response, the vendor that mailed the ballots recommended destroying the incorrectly delivered ballots, but the Republican camp is raising concerns about election transparency, including the possibility of fraudulent or duplicate voting.

Trump claimed, "No one knows how the first 500,000 ballots sent are being handled," adding, "Furthermore, since a significant number of these ballots were delivered to Democratic supporters, Republican candidates running in Maryland have no chance of winning."

He then blamed Democratic Maryland Governor Wes Moore for the incident, saying, "He allowed this to happen to ensure a Democratic victory."

Trump stated, "I am confident that this has clearly been happening for years," and added, "I will be requesting an immediate investigation into this situation from the Attorney General and the Department of Justice."

Maryland Governor Wes Moore [AP=Yonhap News Agency file photo]