Can Donald Trump Delay 2020 Election over mail-in voting? Experts say no.

President Donald Trump on Thursday raised the prospect of delaying the November election because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Legal experts were quick to point out that a president cannot lawfully delay a presidential election.

Blend Images/Hill Street Studios/Brand X Pictures / Getty Images

The President floated delaying the November’s presidential election on Thursday morning. This comes after a new poll shows presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden leading President Trump by 4 points in Florida.

In his tweet on Thursday morning — coming 96 days before the election and minutes after the federal government reported the worst economic contraction in recorded history — Trump offered the suggestion because he claimed without evidence the contest will be flawed.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1288818160389558273

Can the president cancel or postpone an election with an executive order?

Short answer: No.

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.

“The Constitution sets the expiration of a presidential term in stone, and Congress has also set exact dates by which presidential electors must meet and transmit their votes,” said Robert Tsai, a constitutional scholar and law professor at American University.

Only a change in federal law, passed by Congress, could alter the election timeline, Tsai said.

https://twitter.com/marceelias/status/1288822134341591040

How are the chances of moving the U.S. Elections due to Covid-19?

Even if the president and Congress wanted to delay the election, it would be a very tough climb legally, analysts said. Delaying a presidential election would be unprecedented – the nation did not do so even during the Civil War and World War II.

Even if a legislation was passed to delay the U.S. Elections, setting a new election date will be challenging: 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.

What is the problem with the 2020 Elections?

“President Trump is talking about delaying the November election because he is afraid of people voting by mail,” Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) said in a tweet in which she included a link to a Florida government website with instructions on how to do so. “You know what to do,” she added.

Casting a ballot by mail isn’t a new way to vote, but it is getting fresh attention as the coronavirus pandemic upends daily life.

The practice dates back to the Civil War, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Election Data Lab, when soldiers were given the opportunity to vote from the battlefield. States began expanding absentee voting laws in the late 1800s to accommodate voters who were away from home or sick on Election Day.

Behind the misleading ‘fraud danger’, Republicans actually fear mail balloting will increase votes for Democrats. They worry that individuals who are part of groups that typically vote in lower numbers will cast absentee ballots because of the ease of doing so. This includes young people, low-income people, minorities, and those without access to transportation.

What country did delay its elections?

Map generated on 27 July 2020 using International IDEA’s Electoral Risk Management Tool (ERMTool) Article by IDEA

At least 68 countries and territories across the globe have decided to postpone national and subnational elections due to COVID-19, out of which at least 24 countries and territories have decided to postpone national elections and referendums.

Other countries however, maintained their elections, such as Poland which took place on July 12. Turnout was high and voters at polling stations wore masks, brought their own pens and waited in lines with three feet of personal space in all directions.

President Zuzana Caputova and PM Igor Matovic wear protective masks during the cabinet’s inauguration at the presidential palace in March 2020. [Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters]

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