Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said he believes President Donald Trump will try to delay the November election.
“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 Biden during an online campaign event, according to Yahoo Finance. “That’s the only way he thinks he can possibly win.”
Biden
has been steadfast in his claims that the November election should take place despite concerns around the coronavirus and social distancing. Many states have delayed or canceled primary elections since the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S.“I’d much prefer to have on — you know, in-person voting, but it depends. It depends on the state of play,” Biden told NBC in an April interview. “But we cannot, we cannot delay or postpone a constitutionally required November election.”
Trump does not have the power to postpone the election. He would need the approval of both houses of the US Congress. The Senate is held by Republicans but the US House of Representatives is held by Democrats.
The election games have already begun in some states. Last month the Wisconsin Supreme Court allowed its primary
to continue despite the risk of the coronavirus. However, that backfired for Republicans as liberal judge Jill Karofsky won the race for state Supreme Court judge.“Republicans were trying to force in-person voting no matter the health cost. We have to figure out how we are going to conduct a full and fair and safe election in November, and no one should have to risk their lives to cast a ballot,” Biden said during the campaign event.
Trump opposes mail-in voting but, according to MSNBC, 60% of Americans have expressed support for “allowing people to vote by mail-in ballot instead of in-person.
Biden and Trump have taken jabs at each other in recent months. Trump said earlier this month he was surprised former President Barack Obama hadn’t endorsed Biden.