President Donald Trump seemed to suggest on Wednesday that the November elections should be delayed due to uncertainty over “universal” mail-in balloting.
In a tweet, the president also hinted that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic might also justify delaying voting.
“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1288818160389558273
At present, only five states feature mail-in voting exclusively, CBS News reported — Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington. So it’s not clear what Trump was referring to when he mentioned “universal mail-in voting,” unless it is part of the fourth coronavirus relief package Congress is currently working on.
In April as the House began working on early coronavirus relief packages, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) blasted Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Democrat leaders for exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to push for universal mail-in voting, which Trump has often warned would lead to widespread vote fraud.
But it’s not clear such a provision has been included in a current relief bill.
Regarding delaying the election, that seems nearly impossible given that the date is set in federal law and the Constitution, the latter of which empowers Congress to establish the “time, place and manner” of federal elections.
A March analysis by the Congressional Research Service noted that since 1845, Congress has “required states to appoint presidential electors on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, which represents the date by which voters in every state must cast their ballot for president.”
In 2004, the CRS issued a report noting that “while the Executive Branch has significant delegated authority regarding some aspects of election law, this authority does not currently extend to setting or changing the times of elections.”
Additionally, the 20th Amendment makes clear that the terms for president and vice president expire at noon on January 20 after each four-year period.
Finally, because the House is controlled by Democrats and the Senate by Republicans, it isn’t likely any legislation altering the election date would pass.
Democrats and their allies have suggested for months that Trump would try to find some way to delay the November elections, either over coronavirus or his objections to mail-in balloting.
In April, for instance, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden claimed that Trump would try to delay the election, a suggestion that was widely mocked at the time.
“Mark my words, I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held,” he said during a virtual fundraiser.
And in May, Left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore told MSNBC’s Ari Melber: “I can see, I think others can see what he is up to here. He is trying to do a number of things to make the election go in his favor, by rigging it, by trying to make it uncomfortable or uneasy or the virus still going on in November.”
“Every move he is making, whether it’s getting rid of the inspector generals so there is no watchdogs in the last six to nine months, whether it’s the business with the post office, whatever he is doing and whatever he is up to, suggesting maybe we postpone the election because of the virus, we must not postpone the election,” he added. “We must make it easy for every American to vote.”
Earlier this month, failed two-time presidential contender Hillary Clinton claimed Trump would not “go quietly” if he loses in November and would blame mail-in balloting.
Indeed, for weeks, the president has suggested that widespread mail-in voting — which is being considered by a growing number of state due to the continued presence of coronavirus — would create opportunities for election fraud.
But then, many instances involving problems with mail-in balloting including allegations of fraud have been reported throughout the coronavirus-plagued primary season already.
The Trump campaign claimed in a tweet that 68 percent of Americans are concerned that universal mail-in voting will lead to massive fraud.
Nevertheless, Leftists and Trump opponents lambasted the president over his tweet.
TRUMP’S GOAL: DELAY the ELECTION
It has been very obvious for some time that Trump was going to pull this stunt. He is out of control. Daily he is attempting to undermine the validity of mail-in voting & now he has flagged delaying the election. He is losing & he knows it.
— MURRAY 🗽 (@murray_nyc) July 30, 2020
fact check: mail-in voting and absentee voting are exactly the same thing. fact check: you can’t delay the election without a constitutional amendment. instead of fear-mongering, how about running on your record? you know: mass death, mass unemployment, mass infection, rioting…
— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) July 30, 2020
Wanna be dictator @realDonaldTrump kidnapping of Americans in Portland, sending the police to gas protesters & complaining about mail-in voting are exercises for when @POTUS loses the election to @JoeBiden and @POTUS refuses to leave the @WhiteHousehttps://t.co/Mr6m9YYthz pic.twitter.com/x9sHbtu8aU
— Nestor “the boss” Gomez (@soloyochapin) July 30, 2020
Delay the election? Unless Trump takes over the government by military force and suspends the Constitution, it will be President Pelosi on January 20th by default. Because without an election, Trump has absolutely no authority to remain in power unless he does a military coup.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) July 30, 2020
You would never be saying this if you thought you’re gonna win. You’re terrified. Panicked. Desperate. We can literally smell your fear…
— Andy Ostroy (@AndyOstroy) July 30, 2020
Democrats even fantasized about a President Pelosi should the electing be delayed:
https://twitter.com/LokayFOX5/status/1288827330476019712
But even that notion was quickly put to rest:
Except that, if the election were delayed, then Nancy Pelosi’s term would’ve ended on January 3rd, because she wouldn’t have been re-elected. (Unless the state went forward with congressional elections.)
It’s a complicated mess!
— Ryan Wood (@RyanWoodDFW) July 30, 2020
Our education system has failed. Keep the teacher's unions at home because of the virus. It's better for everyone.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) July 30, 2020
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Jon is a staff writer for BizPac Review with 30 years' worth of reporting experience, as well as an author and U.S. Army veteran. He has a BA in political science from Ashford University and an MA in national security studies/intelligence analysis from American Military University.
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