U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday triggered a new controversy by suggesting that the November elections be delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“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???” the President tweeted.
Though rumours were doing the rounds for some time, this was the first time Mr. Trump suggested that the elections should be postponed. Does he have the powers to do so?
He doesn’t. According to the U.S. Constitution, it’s Congress, not the President, that decides the timing of the elections. A federal law approved on January 25, 1845 has unambiguously set the election timing. “That the electors of President and Vice President shall be appointed in each State on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November of the year in which they are to be appointed,” states the law, referring to the selection of the Electoral College. This falls on November 3 this year. It can be changed only by passing a new law, which needs the approval of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, and will be subject to legal challenges.
U.S. President Donald Trump | Photo Credit: AP
The House is now controlled by the Democratic Party and the Senate by the Republicans. Senior leaders of both parties have dismissed the President’s suggestion to postpone the election. Mitch McConnell, the highest-ranking official in the Senate and a Trump ally, has said, “We’ll cope with whatever the situation is and have the election on November 3 as already scheduled.”
What if elections are delayed?
While the possibility of postponing the elections is very, very low, even if lawmakers agree to change the date, in the event of a bigger crisis, Mr. Trump can’t continue in the White House beyond his stipulated term. President Trump’s first term is set to expire at noon on January 20, 2021.
The 20th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, adopted on January 23, 1933, moved the beginning and ending of the terms of the President and the Vice-President from March 4 to January 20. These dates cannot be changed. Ordinarily, if the presidency is vacant, the Vice-President assumes charge. But here, the terms of both President Trump and Vice-President Mike Pence would expire on January 20. The House Speaker is the next in the line of succession. But there is a problem. The two-year term of the Current House expires on January 3, 2021. This date has also been fixed by the 20th Amendment. So, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the highest-ranking official in the House, cannot assume the presidency.
If the House Speaker is also not available, the next in the line is the president pro tempore (pro tem) of the Senate. President pro tem is the second highest-ranking official in the Senate, though it’s largely a ceremonial position. According to Article 1, Section Three of the Constitution, the Vice-President is the president of the Senate, and the Senate should choose a president pro tem to act in the absence of the Vice-President. Currently, senior Republican Chuck Grassley is the president pro tem. But hold on. If elections are not held in November (in which 23 Republican Senate seats and 12 Democrat seats are up for grabs), the current equation of the Senate would change. The Democrats would have a majority if 23 Republican seats go vacant and they could elect a new president pro tem.
Is voting by mail fraudulent?
A file photo a woman wearing dropping off a mail-in ballot at a drop box in Hackensack, N.J. | Photo Credit: AP
If elections are held in November, a record number of Americans are expected to vote by mail due to the coronavirus crisis. Most States have said that registered voters must request for a ballot in the mail or cast their votes in person. Voters can choose their candidates and send the ballots back by mail or deposit them at drop-off sites. Those who do not have fixed addresses can either vote in person or contact their local election officials.
Independent researchers have debunked the voter fraud theories. States can adopt different measures to protect the ballots such as barcodes to track the ballots (the voter can also track his or her ballot) and conduct post-election audits. Studies have also pointed out that in States like Washington, which vote almost entirely by mail, no major frauds were reported in the past. President Trump has not offered any evidence to his claims that voting by mail is fraudulent either.