Donald Trump suggests delay in presidential election over coronavirus fears

Republicans have quickly challenged a controversial suggestion by US President Donald Trump that the 2020 election should be delayed.

Dozens of Republicans in the House and Senate have rejected President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the 2020 election should be delayed.

Mr Trump, who is currently lagging badly in the polls, citing the coronavirus and what he said would be “fraudulent” voting.

“Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” Mr Trump asked in a tweet.

“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,” the tweet said.

Only Congress can change the election date, which is set by law on November 3.

With Democrats ruling the lower house, that seems highly unlikely to happen.

Mr Trump has previously insisted that he sees no problem going ahead with the election, where he faces Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

Mr Trump’s suggestion caused a storm on Twitter, with thousands of responses within hours. The story made headlines across the US.

Many prominent Republican politicians openly rejected his call.

US President Donald Trump has called for the 2020 election to be delayed. Picture: Alex Wong/Getty Images/AFP

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???

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020

Mail-In Voting is already proving to be a catastrophic disaster. Even testing areas are way off. The Dems talk of foreign influence in voting, but they know that Mail-In Voting is an easy way for foreign countries to enter the race. Even beyond that, there’s no accurate count!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020

Senate Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham said Mr Trump’s suggestion was not a “particularly good idea”.

Majority Whip Senator John Thune said the election would go ahead in November as planned.

“I think that’s probably a statement that gets some press attention, but I doubt it gets any serious traction,” Mr Thune said.

“I think we’ve had elections every November since about 1788, and I expect that will be the case again this year.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also said the election would proceed as planned.

“Never in the history of the country, through wars, depressions and the Civil War, have we ever not had a federally-scheduled election on time. We’ll find a way to do that again this November 3rd,” the majority leader said in an interview with WNKY.

Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution states:

“The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.” https://t.co/NIaa7mQVnn

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) July 30, 2020

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi responded simply with a quote: “Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution states: The Congress may determine the Time of choosing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.”

According to CNN, any distinction between mail-in voting and absentee voting is wrong.

Experts have said those voting systems are essentially the same thing.

There is also no widespread fraud in US elections.

PANDEMIC RAGES

The coronavirus pandemic remains out of control in swathes of the United States, including most recently in Republican-led states like Florida and Texas.

During the presidential primary contests earlier this year, several states delayed voting or opened fewer polling sites.

In addition, major sporting events have been cancelled or curtailed and there are serious doubts across much of the country over whether schools and universities will reopen in September.

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But Mr Trump has bitterly resisted Democratic-led attempts to increase availability of mail-in voting, saying that this will promote fraud and that Americans should line up at the polls as usual.

His opponents say there is no evidence of meaningful fraud in US elections and rather that more effort is needed to improve the complicated logistics of mail-in voting.

With AFP