President Donald Trump told reporters at a White House news conference Monday that he would not postpone the Nov. 3 presidential election after former Vice President Joe Biden suggested that he might try. Trump called the comments, “made-up propaganda.”
“Your likely Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, recently suggested that you were considering changing the date of the election that you might try something like that,” one reporter inquired.
Trump replied, “I never even thought of changing the date of the election. Why would I do that? November 3rd. It’s a good number. No, I look forward to that election.”
He also clarified that Biden had not been responsible for the rumor. “And that was just made-up propaganda — not by [Biden], but by some of the many people that are working, writing little statements.”
States can control the dates of their elections, but altering the date of the 2020 general election would require a change in federal law and authorization from U.S. Congress.
Federal law has fixed the date of the general election since 1845 –– and the federal statute has marked Election Day as the Tuesday following the first Monday in November.
The president may not cancel or delay an election with an executive order. Earlier this year, Trump tweeted a video showing him running for president infinitely in the future.
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