After suggesting a delay to the November presidential election in the country, United States President Donald Trump on Thursday, 30 July, stood by his tweet and said that he doesn’t want a delay, but also doesn’t want to wait for three months to find that the ballots were inaccurate, pointing towards the process of mail-in voting.
“I don't want a delay, I want to have the election. But I also don't want to have wait for three months and then find out that the ballots were all missing and the election doesn't mean anything,” Trump said in a press briefing.
What Did Trump Tweet?
Earlier on Thursday, Trump suggested a delay to the November presidential election in the country, saying that universal mail-in voting will lead to the most "inaccurate and fraudulent" election in history.
Taking to Twitter, Trump said, "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. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???"
In another tweet, he said that mail-in voting is proving to be a "catastrophic disaster."
Can He Do It?
Republican leaders and allies said that Trump had no authority to move the election.
“Never in the history of the federal elections have we not held an election, and we should go forward,” Representative Kevin McCarthy, the House minority leader, was quoted by The New York Times as saying.
American Presidential Historian Michael Beschloss took to Twitter to say that “never in American history – not even during the Civil War and World War II – has there been a successful move to 'Delay the Election’ for President.”
According to CNBC, Trump has no power to “unilaterally” do so. The elections were reportedly fixed for the day after the first Monday in November, through a mid-19th century law, and that has not changed over the years.
The COVID-19 Factor
The president's comments come as the US continues to grapple with the COVID-19 pandemic. The country is the worst-affected with over 4.4 million confirmed cases, and more than 1,50,000 deaths.
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