The president has no powers to unilaterally change the appointment with the Republican and Democratic ballot boxes advocate keeping the date of the presidential elections
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has suggested this Thursday the possibility of postponing the presidential elections in the North American country, arguing that there is a risk that they will be “imprecise and fraudulent” due to the voting by mail system.
“With the universal vote-by-mail system (not the absentee vote, which is going well), the 2020 elections will be the most fraudulent and imprecise elections in history. It would be a great shame for the United States. A postponement of the elections until people can vote properly and safely? “he asked on Twitter.
In another message, Trump has said that the vote-by-mail system “has already shown that it is a catastrophic disaster.” “Democrats talk about foreign interference in the vote but they know that the voting by mail system is an easy way for other countries to enter the competition. In addition to all that, it does not allow an accurate count!”, He proclaimed.
The suggestion to postpone the presidential election is unprecedented in recent United States history, where the date for the White House elections is always set for the first Tuesday of the first full week of November.
According to ‘The New York Times’, Trump has no powers to unilaterally change the date of the presidential election, which is set in accordance with federal law.
Important voices of the Republican Party have spoken out against the possible electoral delay. “Never in the history of our country, with wars and depressions, have we held federal elections out of time. We will find the way to do it again this November 3,” said the leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, Mitch McConnell , in statements to the WNKY chain.
Along the same lines, the head of the Judicial Commission of the upper house, Lindsey Graham, has spoken. “I don’t think it’s a good idea,” he has directly answered questions from CNN. “We are going to have an election, it is going to be legitimate and it is going to be credible,” said Republican senator for Florida Marco Rubio.
Even more forceful has been Rodney Davis, the highest Republican position on the committee that deals with electoral issues in the House of Representatives. “There will be no delay in the 2020 elections. Congress has set the date and there should be no changes. They will be held on November 3, as planned and required by law,” he said on Twitter.
From the ranks of the Democratic position, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, has limited herself to remembering the constitutional text: “Congress will determine (…) the day on which voters must cast their votes, which It must be the same throughout the United States, “he recalled on the social network.
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Trump’s message comes after he has cast doubt on the validity of the vote by mail, at a time when polls put him at a clear disadvantage with respect to the likely Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, and the pandemic is in full swing. of coronaviruses in the country.
The New York magnate has repeatedly charged the vote-by-mail system, an attitude that coincides with Democrats’ efforts to encourage his absentee voters to request a vote by mail, leading to this party’s advantage the moment in this form of voting. In April, the Liberal nominee for the Wisconsin Supreme Court managed to improve her mail-in vote results by 10 percent over the face-to-face vote.
According to ‘The New York Times’, the proposal to postpone the appointment with the ballot boxes could increase the chances that Trump and her followers will refuse to accept her defeat if Biden takes the victory. Right now, most polls rank Trump against Biden in almost every key state.
The idea is not really new, since some of its allies and top advisers have mentioned the possibility of postponing the elections due to the situation arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
COVID-19 is causing havoc in the United States, which is the country most affected by the virus, with more than 4.4 million infected and more than 150,000 deaths. Despite Trump’s refusal to order a national quarantine to avoid the economic coup, rising unemployment and falling GDP have set record numbers.
