WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that the United States would need to “delay the election,” claiming that mail-in voting would make the results “the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history.”
Trump has no power to unilaterally delay elections, which were set for the day after the first Monday in November through a mid-19th century law passed by Congress. Since then, it has never changed, said presidential historian Michael Beschloss.
But Trump is trailing in the polls by double digits to Democrat Joe Biden, and election experts have long worried that the president would actively try to interfere with the Nov. 3 balloting in order to prevent a potential loss.
Trump, however, has personally denied thinking about changing the date of the election. “I never even thought of changing the date of the election, why would I do that? November 3rd. It’s a good number,” Trump said on April 27 at the White House. “I look forward to that election.”
Asked at the time about concerns Biden raised that Trump might try to delay the election, Trump replied, “That was just made-up propaganda....I’m not thinking about it at all.”
As states grapple with how to help citizens vote safely during the coronavirus pandemic, many have turned to mail-in voting as a way for people to safely cast ballots without waiting in long lines at crowded polling places and risk spreading Covid-19.
No comments:
Post a Comment