A delay in U.S. 2020 election results does not mean fraud

In a scathing opinion piece in The New York Times published online Thursday, the Northwestern University law professor points to what ignited his newfound ire with the president: a tweet Trump sent out shortly after news broke Thursday morning that the USA economy had suffered its biggest recorded contraction ever last quarter.

Trump, seeking to already undermine the results of an election he could lose, demanded the victor of the November 3 contest be known that night. Trump tweeted, "With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history".

With the election less than 100 days away, both national and battleground state polls show Trump trailing Biden and losing support from Americans on his handling of the pandemic and other major issues.

The prospect of a delayed election was rejected by fellow Republicans.

Instead, the president sought to portray his provocative suggestion that the election be delayed as stirring a needed public debate.

What is more likely to be delayed is the result. They want to ensure the health and safety of their constituents by using mail-in ballots, not in-person voting. In an election as close as 2016′s, a delayed tally in key states could keep news organisations from calling a victor.

We all should want - and I know you do too, Senator Kaine - want to make sure we have an election that everyone is confident in, that's not only for -"Sen". "We have to prepare for that now and accept that reality". Five states already conduct voting nearly entirely by mail: Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington and Utah.

"Glad I was able to get the very dishonest LameStream Media", Trump tweeted later on Thursday, "to finally start talking about the RISKS to our Democracy from unsafe Universal Mail-In-Voting (not Absentee Voting, which I totally support!)".

Calabresi said he voted for Trump in 2016 and defended the president during the Mueller investigation and impeachment trials. The board of elections said this week it had finally finished counting absentee ballots, and Ms. Maloney holds a lead of about 3,700 votes. Many states expect to be scrambling to process millions more in November.

"The main problems have been around access and that it can take a long time to count".

In some states, the ballots can be accepted several days after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked before polls closed. And while some states count the ballots as they come in, others - notably the critical battlegrounds of MI and Pennsylvania - have laws that forbid processing mail ballots until Election Day, guaranteeing the count will extend well past that night.

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, in an interview with The Associated Press, said he feared "a new wave of economic downturn" as he grapples with pressure to institute a second stay-at-home order as coronavirus infections in his state surge.