2020 election: Has the US ever delayed a presidential vote?

Self-titled ‘wartime president’ Donald Trump would be the first to postpone elections

US president Donald Trump went a step beyond with attacks against mail-in-ballots on Thursday, with the suggestion that 2020’s presidential election should be delayed.

“2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history.” claimed Mr Trump. “Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee had called it some 105 days prior, when he told supporters that the Republican incumbent would try postponing November’s poll “with some rationale”.

“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,” said Mr Biden.

Despite the president’s protestations, however, no White House incumbent has ever made that move – and neither does the US constitution permit it.

The election date – which falls on the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November – has been set in law since 1845, and guaranteed under Article II of the constitution.

For that reason, presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt did not postpone elections in 1940 and 1944 during the second world war.

While in 1864, Abraham Lincoln said that election had “demonstrated that a people’s government can sustain a national election, in the midst of a great civil war.”

Those laws, which are still in place, would require both Houses of Congress to pass new legislation on an election date.

But Republicans, as well as Democrats, denounced Mr Trump’s suggestions on Thursday.

“The law is what it is”, commented senator Marco Rubio. “We’re going to have an election that’s legitimate, it’s going to be credible, it’s going to be the same as we’ve always done it”.

“No way should we ever not hold an election on the day that we have it,” added Kevin MacCarthy, who leads the Republicans in the House of Representatives.

The House – which is controlled by Democrats, would add another obstacle to any plans introduced by Republicans in Congress to delay the election.

And most -like Mr Rubio and Mr McCarthy – have proven to be lukewarm at best, to Mr Trump’s suggestion.

Instead, lawmakers warn that Mr Trump’s comments are an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of November’s election, as current polls show him trailing Mr Biden.