Post by t-bob on Apr 24, 2020 17:23:31 GMT -5
It’s not the entire article
“Does Trump have the constitutional power to cancel or postpone the Nov. 3 election based on a national health emergency?” — Scott F. Mulrooney in Alexandria, Va.
The president's likely opponent in that election, former vice president Joe Biden, thinks he'll try. “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. That’s the only way he thinks he can possibly win,” the presumptive Democratic nominee said Thursday during an online campaign event.
But even if Trump wanted to push back the election date — which he says he doesn't — he would have no power to do so without Congress's say so.
“The founders were unambiguous about how Election Day would be chosen: Congress is charged with choosing the date, and that date must be the same for the entire country,” Post political reporter Colby Itkowitz wrote today. (Read her full report.)
“Congress chose the date, the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November, in 1845 and it has never been changed,” her story continues. “In a hypothetical scenario in which Trump wanted the election moved, he could publicly advocate for it and persuade Republicans to agree, but both chambers of Congress would need to vote to change the date.”
How Americans will vote on Nov. 3 if the virus is still spreading is another question, but Nov. 3 is the date, and no president can change it.
“Does Trump have the constitutional power to cancel or postpone the Nov. 3 election based on a national health emergency?” — Scott F. Mulrooney in Alexandria, Va.
The president's likely opponent in that election, former vice president Joe Biden, thinks he'll try. “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. That’s the only way he thinks he can possibly win,” the presumptive Democratic nominee said Thursday during an online campaign event.
But even if Trump wanted to push back the election date — which he says he doesn't — he would have no power to do so without Congress's say so.
“The founders were unambiguous about how Election Day would be chosen: Congress is charged with choosing the date, and that date must be the same for the entire country,” Post political reporter Colby Itkowitz wrote today. (Read her full report.)
“Congress chose the date, the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November, in 1845 and it has never been changed,” her story continues. “In a hypothetical scenario in which Trump wanted the election moved, he could publicly advocate for it and persuade Republicans to agree, but both chambers of Congress would need to vote to change the date.”
How Americans will vote on Nov. 3 if the virus is still spreading is another question, but Nov. 3 is the date, and no president can change it.