President Donald Trump on Thursday suggested the idea of delaying the November general election after claiming without evidence that the process could be ripe for fraud.
“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history," Trump tweeted. "It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”
According to the U.S. Constitution, the president does not have the power to delay the election as Article I, Section 4, Clause 1 of the document provides the power to regulate elections and the "time, place, and manner" to the U.S. House and Senate. While states are allowed to delay their primary elections, the general election for president cannot be delayed by anyone other than Congress, which has required the appointment of presidential electors to take place the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
This year, that date falls on November 3rd.
Earlier this morning, Trump also raised the specter of potential fraud through mail-in voting.
"Mail-In Voting is already proving to be a catastrophic disaster," Trump tweeted. "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!"
During a House Judiciary hearing on Tuesday, Attorney General William Barr was asked if a sitting president could change the date of the election. Barr demurred, saying he hadn't "looked into that question, under the Constitution."
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