US President Donald Trump at a roundtable on donating plasma during a visit to the American Red Cross National Headquarters, July 30, 2020. (Reuters)
US elections: Trump walks back comments on delaying presidential elections
Hours after raising the possibility of delaying the November presidential elections, US President Donald Trump said Thursday he did not want to see a date change.
“I want an election and a result more than you,” Trump told reporters at a White House press conference.
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“We want to have an election. I don’t want to delay; I want to have the election,” Trump said when asked about an earlier tweet in which he suggested that mail-in voting for the November 3rd election would lead to the most “fraudulent” election in history.
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
“But I don’t want to have to wait three months and then the election doesn’t mean anything. Do I want to see a date change? No,” Trump said, referring to what he claims would be missing ballots.
Mail-in voting and absentee voting are two separate methods. Trump favors absentee voting, which requires a voter to request a ballot that must be submitted ahead of time.
Read more: US President Trump suggests delay in presidential election over coronavirus obstacles
Mail-in voting would see ballots mailed out to eligible voters regardless of their request. Democrats argue that with the coronavirus pandemic, long lines would endanger the health of voters. They also say that it eases the burden of those with jobs and facilitates their voting rights.
Republicans believe this will increase voter fraud. On Thursday, Trump cited several articles on voter fraud using mail-in ballots, including pieces from the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
“Hundreds of millions of universal mail-in ballots. Who are they being sent to?” Trump questioned.
