President Donald Trump has previously “joked” about bending the rules so he could serve as president beyond his legal limit, which makes the question that’s been floating around of whether he might try and impact the presidential election this November in light of the ongoing Coronavirus outbreak all the more concerning. This week, Hillary Clinton shared an article on Twitter that lawyer Marc Elias had written explaining how, in short, there’s no legal way for the president to actually cancel or postpone the presidential election this November. The legal prohibition serves as a fierce and poignant counter to any power grab hopes that Trump may have been holding onto.
Clinton shared:
‘Let’s be clear. Trump does not have the power to cancel or postpone the November election.’
Let's be clear. Trump does not have the power to cancel or postpone the November election. https://t.co/OKQyAq5g80
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) April 6, 2020
While Trump might not be planning to even try and cancel or postpone the presidential race, his side has actually already been trying to upend efforts to protect it through other means. Republicans, including Trump himself, have derided the idea of instituting nationwide, vastly expanded vote-by-mail — which could, of course, dramatically increase access to the polls for many people. Republicans have frequently banked on low turnout levels, and, in a telling sign of what might be on the horizon, Democratic primary turnout shot up dramatically this year, far surpassing 2020 levels.
Those turnout spikes unfolded before the Coronavirus ground everything to an almost complete halt. Led off by Ohio earlier in the cycle, a number — although not all — of the states with Democratic presidential primaries have blocked in-person voting from actually unfolding. Just this week, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers (D) issued an executive order demanding the postponement of the election in his state as well – although the state Supreme Court eventually overruled that order.
Check out Twitter’s response below…
