No, President Trump Cannot Delay The Election On His Own
- by Emilio Sims
- in Money
- — Jul 31, 2020
United States President Donald Trump on Thursday called for delaying the 2020 presidential election, citing possible mail-in voting fraud. Trump does not have the power to unilaterally change the date of the election, and there is no evidence that mail-in voting leads to widespread voter fraud, or that it benefits one political party over the other.
"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", Trump said in a tweet.
But voters who missed the mailing deadline can turn in their early ballots at any vote center or secure drop box through Election Day on August 4.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., a frequent critic of the president, sought to reinforce that Trump does not have the ability to act on his own. The Constitution makes no provisions for a delay to the January 20, 2021 presidential inauguration.
The president can not unilaterally change the date of the presidential election, which is on November 3 this year.
Trump has trailed his Democratic rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, in recent polls and is seen as needing to make up ground against him in states considered key to this year's race, including MI and Pennsylvania. "I never even thought of changing the date of the election", he said. "No, I look forward to that election". Why would I do that? November 3rd. It's a good number.
The registrar's office will begin mailing absentee ballots September 18 to those who have requested them by that date, Coakley said; other voters may continue to request such ballots until 11 days prior to the election. In June, the president said that the "biggest risk" to his re-election prospects is increased mail-in voting and whether he can win lawsuits to stop its expansion. Democrats have pushed to includes billions of dollars in the next coronavirus relief bill to fund election security and accessibility improvements for this year's vote, but Trump and Republicans have so far resisted those efforts. "But he wants to talk about it".
Rep. Rick Larsen of Washington state tweeted: "Prez has no authority to delay elections".
