President Donald Trump suggested delaying the 2020 presidential election in a Thursday morning tweet while further perpetuating the false claim that mail-in voting leads to widespread voter 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???"
Despite Trump's repeated claims to the contrary, there is little evidence that mail-in voting leads to widespread voter fraud. Five states already conduct their elections entirely through the mail: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah.
In fact, Trump himself has voted by mail several times.
In addition, legal experts say the president does not have the power to move Election Day. The Constitution provides that power to Congress, who passed a law in 1948 specifying election day as the first Tuesday in November. Democrats control the House of Representatives, and it's unlikely that they will vote to move the election at the behest of Trump.
According to CNN and The New York Times, several top Republicans have already broken with Trump on the prospect of moving the 2020 election, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Marco Rubio.
Trump has already suggested that he won't immediately accept the results of the election if he were to lose in November. Earlier this month in an interview with Fox News' Chris Wallace, Trump said it would "depend" if he would accept the results in which he lost, citing mail-in voting.
Several recent national polls show Trump trailing his presumptive opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, but double digits. Those same polls also show Trump trailing in key swing states.
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