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Delay election until people can properly, securely and safely vote, says Trump amid coronavirus pandemic

WION Web Team
Washington, United StatesUpdated: Jul 30, 2020, 08:04 PM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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Amid the rising coronavirus cases, Trump had reportedly said that he will lose the US elections to be held in November due to falling poll numbers as Joe Biden takes the lead.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday raised the possibility of delaying the nation's November presidential election despite its date being enshrined in the US Constitution.

Trump, without evidence, repeated his claims of mail-in voter fraud and raised the question of a delay, writing: "delay the election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???"

"With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA," the tweet said.

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Trump has cast doubt on the legitimacy of mail-in ballots, which have been used in far greater numbers in primary elections amid the coronavirus pandemic. He has also made unsubstantiated allegations that voting will be rigged and has refused to say he would accept official election results if he lost.

Only Congress can change the election date, which is set by law on November 3. With Democrats ruling the lower House, that seems highly unlikely to happen.

Trump has previously insisted that he sees no problem going ahead with the election, where he faces Democratic challenger Joe Biden

Amid the rising coronavirus cases, Trump had reportedly said that he will lose the US elections to be held in November due to falling poll numbers as Joe Biden takes the lead.

According to the latest survey, he is currently lagging badly in the polls. Biden's support has grown to 55 per cent, while only 41 per cent of voters backing Trump. 

The US, which is a worst-hit country in terms of coronavirus pandemic, now has over 150,000 deaths due to the virus.