After criticising the delay of the Hong Kong election, Donald Trump has tweeted about possibly delaying the US elections, saying “universal mail-in voting” would make November’s election the “most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history”.
There is very little evidence to support Trump’s claims that mail-in voting will lead to excessive fraud. He also suggested that absentee or mail-in voting would be vulnerable to foreign interference, without providing evidence to support his claim.
Trump has no authority to postpone the election himself under the US constitution, so Congress would have to approve any delay, which is unlikely.
With Trump falling behind in the polls, this could be seen as him attempting to increase his approval rating before he runs for re-election. With Trump’s main pillar of strength in terms of the election being the high value of the stock market, it’s fall in the coronavirus-era has hit his campaigning hard before it truly begins.
This talk of delay also comes after rumours that Trump did not agree to peacefully leave the White House if Biden were to win the next election.
Whatever the reason, tweeting about the electoral delay is not the move of a candidate confident of victory - and could be a sign of more desperate moves to come.
Written by Jessica Craighill
Artwork by Zara Masood
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