Thursday, August 10, 2017

Could Trump Postpone 2020 Elections? Not Alone. Here’s Why

Let’s assume we avoid nuclear war and are ready for elections in 2020. A survey commissioned by the Washington Post shows that  52 percent of Republicans would support postponing the 2020 election. This is purely hypothetical but in this age of polling, would it give Trump a green light to expand his fraudulent election commission of overblown concerns of voter fraud?
I’m attaching a link to a congressional sub-committee featuring my constitutional law professor, Gene Gressman. His testimony is at the 2 hour, 32 minute, 30 second mark. You can get there easily by forwarding the cursor. Visit: https://www.c-span.org/video/?126297-1/presidential-primaries-election-issuesGive it one minute of your time—he gets right to the point.
Here is the bottom line, as explained by Prof. Gressman. There are two provisions in the Constitution that require uniformity in time for national elections (Art. I, Section 4 [Congress can regulate time, place and manner of elections for HR and Senate]) plus Art II, Section 1 [each state shall appoint electors, Congress may determine time of choosing electors]).
Okay, that’s pretty dry stuff. Fast forward to today, Congress has acted pursuant to these constitutional provisions by setting Tuesday after the first Monday in November for national elections. The very important point for now is that Congress could change this. And since Republicans are in control of all branches of government, this cannot be dismissed as a null possibility.

Take a moment to reflect on this. Is the poll nonsense? Is it ominous? Something else? Feel free to share your post on this crucial topic. All civil replies are welcome. 
PS: Prof. Gressman was testifying about a different concern. Some states were "gaming" the national political scene by moving their primaries forward, giving them more attention from candidates. That's what we have today, but it skews the process toward very small, conservative states. This hearing dealt with the power of Congress to take that date-setting power away from states by establishing a uniform primary date. 

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