Washington: US President Donald Trump wants the upcoming presidential election to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???” tweeted Trump, who is seeking re-election. Election is scheduled on November 3.
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
Several state governments in the US have been thinking of mail-in voting system, keeping public health concerns in mind as voting in person may lead to an increase in coronavirus positive cases.
Till Thursday, the US recorded a whopping 4.43 million COVID-19 cases with over 1.5 lakh deaths.
But can Trump actually have the election postponed?
A historian of US presidential history Michael Beschloss has said such a move would “violate American law”. He made his point by saying that John Adams, second President of the US (1797-1801), wrote in 1811 that the US has ‘a Government of Laws and Not of Men’.
Trump may not have the authority to postpone the elections, unless Congress allows it.