President Donald Trump has called for the 2020 US election to be delayed, citing claims of mail-in voting fraud.
The US president suggested in a tweet on Thursday that the election should be postponed from November “until people can properly, securely and safely vote”.
He wrote: “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???”
In another tweet, Mr Trump said mail-in voting “is already proving to be a catastrophic disaster”.
He said: “The Dems talk of foreign influence in voting, but they know that Mail-In Voting is an easy way for foreign countries to enter the race. Even beyond that, there’s no accurate count!”
Only US Congress can change the date for the presidential election as the US Constitution gives Congress authority to set the date.
Mr Trump has increasingly sought to cast doubt on November’s election and the expected surge in postal and absentee voting as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Trump has called remote voting options the “biggest risk” to his re-election and has frequently raised fears over voter fraud.
Last month, he claimed foreign countries will “print millions of ballot papers” to rig the election.
Mr Trump also told supporters in Arizona last month that “this will be, in my opinion, the most corrupt election in the history of our country”.
There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud through postal voting, even in states with all-mail votes.
Five states already rely exclusively on postal votes, and they say they have necessary safeguards in place to ensure that a hostile foreign actor does not disrupt the vote.
Election security experts say that all forms of voter fraud are rare, including absentee balloting.
Source : standard.co.uk
