US President Donald Trump has warned his fellow Republicans their opponents may “steal” November’s election, as his party anointed him as their candidate.
“They’re using Covid to defraud the American people,” Mr Trump told delegates on the first day of the party convention in North Carolina.
Mr Trump repeated his much-disputed claims that mail-in ballots could lead to voter fraud.
Opinion polls suggest he is lagging behind Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
Mr Biden, the former vice-president to Barack Obama, has boasted a 10-point lead on occasions.
Addressing delegates in person at a party conference that has been dramatically scaled back by Covid-19, Mr Trump accused Democrats of “using Covid to steal an election”.
The US president has repeatedly suggested an unprecedented surge in postal voting could lead to widespread fraud even though experts and voting officials say this is a false conspiracy theory.