(Newswire.net— August 1, 2020) — US President Donald Trump called for the postponement of the presidential elections that are scheduled for November, media reports.
Trump states that voting by mail could lead to election fraud and rewriting of results. He, therefore, proposes that the elections be postponed until people can vote “properly, securely and safely”.
There is no evidence, however, to support Trump’s claims, who has long opposed the idea of voting by mail.
Some states, for fear of spreading the coronavirus, want to make voting easier for their constituents.
In a series of tweets, Trump stated that “universal mail-in voting” would turn out to be “most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history” and a “great embarrassment to the USA”.
Without presenting concrete evidence, Trump claims that such an election would be subject to foreign influence.
“The [Democrats] talk of foreign influence in voting, but they know that Mail-In Voting is an easy way for foreign countries to enter the race,” he said.
Trump added that the mailed voting is “already proving to be a catastrophic disaster” where it was tried.
Six states are currently planning to hold elections: California, Utah, Hawaii, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.
These states will mail ballots to all registered voters. Voters must then send them back on election day.
Voting in person, however, will be possible in special circumstances, as stated. About half of U.S. states allow voters to vote by mail upon special request.
Critics of such a vote say some could vote more than once.
Trump said earlier that there was a risk that “thousands and thousands of people would sit in someone’s living room and fill out ballots.”
The question is, however, does the eventual possibility of fraud actually lead to fraudulent voting? According to many national and local surveys, Americans do not cheat via postal mail-in voting.
Postponing the November’s presidential elections needs to be approved in the Congress, which is partially controlled by the Democrats.
Any change of date would need to be approved by the two houses of Congress – the House of Representatives and the Senate. Democrats control the House of Representatives and some have already said they will not support any delay to the upcoming elections, the BBC reports.