Could the general election be postponed?
The postponement of primary elections across the country has raised that speculation and suggestions that President Trump will try to delay it.
It is an idea that Democrats, Republicans, scholars and Washington’s Secretary of State all say is not possible. The general election date is a matter of federal law since 1845, and it would take an act of Congress, and likely the courts to change it.
But that hasn’t stopped Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson from making that suggestion in an email to supporters. Republicans are now calling it a case of fear-mongering.
“He's promoting a fringe conspiracy theory that President Trump is going to cancel the November election. First of all, he's not going to, second of all, he can't,” said Washington GOP Chair Celeb Heimlich.
Attorney General Ferguson’s fundraising email reads as follows:
When Ohio delayed their primary election last week, it understandably triggered fear that President Trump would use the global coronavirus pandemic to delay or cancel the November general election.
It may sound outrageous, but Trump has already exploited his emergency powers to raid hundreds of millions of dollars to build a wall along the southern border. Fortunately, my legal team beat President Trump’s Department of Justice in court, ensuring that he can’t steal funding from Washington state military projects to build his wall.
But with polls showing Trump behind in most battleground states, he may try to exploit this public health emergency to retain power.
If President Trump delays or cancels the November elections, I will consider an emergency lawsuit -- but it should not come to that.
If you believe it’s essential that Congress take immediate action to implement a national vote-by-mail system and safeguard the November election, I’m asking you to sign our petition and make your voice heard.
My office has led the fight on many of the highest-profile lawsuits against Trump -- including the travel ban, protecting DREAMers, public charge, 3D-printed guns, and family separations -- because we anticipate his unlawful actions before they happen.
We’re preparing for an attack on our democracy. Please help us get the message to Congress that they need to prepare as well.
“I think we should expect better from our candidates and certainly our elected officials," said Heimlich. "And as the Attorney General, he said during this time, his office is going to be looking out and cracking down on scams that take advantage of people that are vulnerable because of the crisis. Well, that's exactly what his campaign is doing."
But Ferguson, in an interview Friday, defended the request.
“Well, just to be clear, the fact that Donald Trump can't postpone the election has very little relationship to whether or not he will try to postpone the election,” said Ferguson, who also said he was proud of his office’s effort to take on the President.
“Look, we've won 28 lawsuits against this president because he tried to do things that he cannot do that are actually illegal to do with 28 cases, we've lost only one. That's a remarkable record. But it demonstrates over and over and over again, this President is willing to try to violate the law try to violate the constitution.”
The only thing both sides seem to agree on is that this campaign, now a little less than six months before the general, will be unlike any other.