Donald Trump started Thursday out in a fury, taking to Twitter to suggest the 2020 election be delayed.
With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT E… https://t.co/VcSCg7IPwj— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1596113169.0
Oh, and he went on his usual rant about mail-in voting and how it's going to rig the whole election. Unfortunately, for Trump, mail-in voting is completely fine and counts just the same as someone who goes to their polling place. A vote is a vote, even if it's not a vote in the president's favor.
In fact, it's kind of ironic that Trump, who has often voted via absentee voting is in favor of one and not the other when they're virtually the same thing.
David Becker, the founder of the non-partisan Center for Election Innovation and research commented on this, stating,
"No-excuse mail voting or absentee voting — whatever you call it — is essentially the same thing. You request a ballot, you get a ballot, you vote, you send it in, and there are protections in place. It doesn't matter whether you call it mail voting or absentee voting. It's the same thing."
Just let that one sink in for a moment. Trump is against the very thing he does, he just uses a different name for it.
On top of that, Trump can't actually delay the election on his own. Jerry Goldfeder, a lawyer and professor at Fordham Law, wrote,
"The U.S. Constitution explicitly provides that a president's term is four years, and the new or re-elected president is sworn in at noon on January 20th. There is no provision or precedent for a sitting president to extend his term beyond then... Congress alone has the authority to adjust this election timeline — provided there is sufficient time for either Biden or Trump to take the oath of office at noon on Jan. 20th."
2020 has had enough twists and turns without delaying the election, and there is no proof that mail-in votes favor one side or the other... just some solid evidence that there will be an increase in mail-in voting this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Again, though, an increase is not synonymous with fraud. An increase just means that people who may have legitimate reasons to be scared of the pandemic and can't risk going to their polling place want to be sure that their voice is heard, especially during a time like this.
While I think it's valid to legitimately think about how states will be handling the influx of mail-in votes, I don't think it's plausible or even remotely fair to discount mail-in votes just because you're nervous you may lose the election.
If mail-in voting is the best option for someone, then that's how it is, whether there is a pandemic or not. Regardless of the outcome of the 2020 election, it is an election year, and we need to move forward with proper protocols, like mail-in voting,
