RAMROD 117,177 Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 President Trump, who is trailing badly in polling of the race for the White House, suggested on Thursday that the Nov. 3 general election be delayed “until people can properly, securely and safely vote.” Even for him, floating the idea of postponing the election was an extraordinary breach of presidential decorum. But the president does not have the authority to move the date of a federal election. And Mr. Trump’s other claim on Thursday, that widespread mail-in voting would make the election “inaccurate and fraudulent,” is false. Here are answers to some key questions about holding elections in a crisis. Can the president cancel or postpone an election with an executive order? No. Why not? Article II of the Constitution empowers Congress to choose the timing of the general election. An 1845 federal law fixed the date as the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. It would take a change in federal law to move that date. That would mean legislation enacted by Congress, signed by the president and subject to challenge in the courts. How likely is it that the November election will be delayed? Did we mention that the House of Representatives, which is controlled by Democrats; the Senate, which is controlled by Republicans; and President Trump would all have to approve such legislation? To call that unlikely would be an understatement. Even if all of that happened, there would not be much flexibility in choosing an alternate election date: The Constitution mandates that the new Congress must be sworn in on Jan. 3, and that the new president’s term must begin on Jan. 20. Those dates cannot be changed just by the passage of normal legislation. Marc Elias, the prominent Democratic election lawyer, on Thursday knocked down the idea that Mr. Trump could move the election on his own. Didn’t many states postpone their primary elections this year? Yes: In response to the coronavirus pandemic, sixteen states and two territories either pushed back their presidential primaries or extended deadlines for voting by mail. States have broad autonomy to define the timing and procedures for primary elections. The exact process for setting primary dates varies from state to state. Have federal officials considered moving a general election in the past? It was reported in 2004 that some Bush administration officials had discussed putting in place a method of postponing a federal election in the event of a terrorist attack. But that idea fizzled quickly, and Condoleezza Rice, then the national security adviser, said that the United States had held “elections in this country when we were at war, even when we were in civil war. And we should have the elections on time.” Is Trump correct that voting by mail leads to voter fraud? No. Numerous studies have shown that all forms of voting fraud are very rare in the United States. A panel that Mr. Trump established to investigate election corruption was disbanded in 2018 after it found no real evidence of fraud. Full article at Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/30/us/politics/trump-postpone-election.html#click=https://t.co/zkQR6h8A1J (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ✧*:･ﾟ ᶠʳᵒⁿᵗ ᵗᵒʷᵃʳᵈ ᵉⁿᵉᵐʸ (*´艸｀*) ♡♡♡ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NFRatwell 23,290 Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 Trust me, if it were possible for a president to postpone an election that easily it would be common. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
blankpaper 21 Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 Has it ever stopped him before though reality’s tight if the music is right Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
StarstruckIllusion 53,570 Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 17 minutes ago, blankpaper said: Has it ever stopped him before though The rules and law stopped him from making his wall... so there’s some hope Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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