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By Emily Larsen, Washington Examiner
Joe Biden’s warning that President Trump will try to postpone the Democratic presidential election is constitutionally impossible and politically improbable.
But while it is not legal or likely, bringing up the possibility of Trump delaying elections serves Democrats by being an outrage-to-action tool.
“I believe that Joe Biden's remarks are to rally the base, no different than when President Trump stands up there and says, ‘Free Minnesota, free Michigan,’” said Bob Stein, a professor of political science at Rice University who studies voting behavior.
Efforts such as voter ID laws or banning buses from taking congregants to the polls after church have had the effect of boosting voter turnout, Stein said. Trying to prevent people from voting will “get a progressive voter aggravated and show up.”
The former vice president and Democratic-presidential-nominee-in-waiting brought up the possibility of Trump delaying the November election at a fundraiser on Thursday.
“Mark my words, I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held,” Biden said, claiming that Trump is “trying to let the word out that he’s going to do all he can to make it very hard for people to vote” because “that’s the only way he thinks he can possibly win.”
In another fundraiser on Thursday, when asked how people can trust that “this election will happen fairly and on time,” Biden said: “Right now, they can’t trust that.”
Biden is not the only Democratic official warning that Trump could try to delay the election.
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a reelection campaign email to supporters last month that “if President Trump delays or cancels the November elections, I will consider an emergency lawsuit.” Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown told reporters last month that he was concerned “the president might ask for a delay in the November election based on something, perhaps this, perhaps something else.”
Multiple experts say that Trump does not have the legal authority to move the election unilaterally, even in a national emergency.
“There’s no way to legally move the election without congressional action,” said Rick Hasen, a professor of law and political science at the University of California Irvine. “In any case, the 20th Amendment says that if there’s been no choice of a president by Congress, the president has to vacate office on Jan. 20.”
The broader Democratic fear is that mail-in voting and other measures are curtailed or manipulated to help Trump and hurt Biden, but blamed on concerns about spreading the coronavirus pandemic.
“Trump or state governors could seek to use public health concerns as a pretext to close polling places in Democratic cities in swing states. Voting would still take place, but turnout could be skewed to help Republicans,” Hasen wrote in an early April op-ed.
Hasen also mentioned another “ominous” theory, that Trump could lobby Republican-controlled state legislatures to take back the power to assign presidential electors.
But, as Stein mentioned, any overt move by Trump or Republicans to suppress Democratic turnout could have the opposite effect.
“No one makes money on underestimating the president,” Stein said. “But I'd be very surprised if he would attempt to delay the elections.”
See more at Washington Examiner
Joe Biden’s warning that President Trump will try to postpone the Democratic presidential election is constitutionally impossible and politically improbable.
But while it is not legal or likely, bringing up the possibility of Trump delaying elections serves Democrats by being an outrage-to-action tool.
“I believe that Joe Biden's remarks are to rally the base, no different than when President Trump stands up there and says, ‘Free Minnesota, free Michigan,’” said Bob Stein, a professor of political science at Rice University who studies voting behavior.
Efforts such as voter ID laws or banning buses from taking congregants to the polls after church have had the effect of boosting voter turnout, Stein said. Trying to prevent people from voting will “get a progressive voter aggravated and show up.”
The former vice president and Democratic-presidential-nominee-in-waiting brought up the possibility of Trump delaying the November election at a fundraiser on Thursday.
“Mark my words, I think he is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held,” Biden said, claiming that Trump is “trying to let the word out that he’s going to do all he can to make it very hard for people to vote” because “that’s the only way he thinks he can possibly win.”
In another fundraiser on Thursday, when asked how people can trust that “this election will happen fairly and on time,” Biden said: “Right now, they can’t trust that.”
Biden is not the only Democratic official warning that Trump could try to delay the election.
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said in a reelection campaign email to supporters last month that “if President Trump delays or cancels the November elections, I will consider an emergency lawsuit.” Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown told reporters last month that he was concerned “the president might ask for a delay in the November election based on something, perhaps this, perhaps something else.”
Multiple experts say that Trump does not have the legal authority to move the election unilaterally, even in a national emergency.
“There’s no way to legally move the election without congressional action,” said Rick Hasen, a professor of law and political science at the University of California Irvine. “In any case, the 20th Amendment says that if there’s been no choice of a president by Congress, the president has to vacate office on Jan. 20.”
The broader Democratic fear is that mail-in voting and other measures are curtailed or manipulated to help Trump and hurt Biden, but blamed on concerns about spreading the coronavirus pandemic.
“Trump or state governors could seek to use public health concerns as a pretext to close polling places in Democratic cities in swing states. Voting would still take place, but turnout could be skewed to help Republicans,” Hasen wrote in an early April op-ed.
Hasen also mentioned another “ominous” theory, that Trump could lobby Republican-controlled state legislatures to take back the power to assign presidential electors.
But, as Stein mentioned, any overt move by Trump or Republicans to suppress Democratic turnout could have the opposite effect.
“No one makes money on underestimating the president,” Stein said. “But I'd be very surprised if he would attempt to delay the elections.”
See more at Washington Examiner
