Trump criticizes election officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County over error

Reported by ABC News. The paragraphs below are the opening of that article, reproduced word for word — not a summary, and not the whole piece.

President Donald Trump is criticizing election officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County after about 3,000 ballots were mistakenly mailed early to voters

PHOENIX -- President Donald Trump on Monday criticized election officials in Arizona's Maricopa County after about 3,000 ballots were mistakenly mailed early to voters.

The miscue, blamed on a vendor error, would have no effect on the voters who received the ballots, the county recorder's office said. Maricopa County has about 2.5 million registered voters.

The president was responding to a reporter’s question when he said Maricopa, the most populous county in the battleground state and home to Phoenix, should “be ashamed of themselves.”

“Now they’re saying it was an error,” Trump said. “Maricopa is a very, very dishonest county.”

The president , as he typically does ahead of an election , has been ramping up his rhetoric around voting as Election Day draws near in this year's midterm elections, with control of Congress at stake.