State GOP balks at Trump election idea
President tweeted about postponing vote
MADISON - Top Wisconsin Republicans broke with President Donald Trump on Thursday over delaying the November election.
The Republican president on Thursday suggested on Twitter that the Nov. 3 election should be delayed because of concerns he has about mail voting. Republicans and Democrats alike dismissed the idea, and election experts emphasized that mail voting has not been found to be rife with fraud.
Postponing the election drew bipartisan alarm from congressional leaders and election experts noted a president does not have the power to change the date of an election.
“The election should not be delayed,” U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner of Menomonee Falls said in a statement. “The 20th Amendment sets the terms of the election and is clear. The terms of the president and vice president shall end at noon on the 20th day of January.”
Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos of Rochester and state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau also opposed the notion. The two this spring sued to keep the April election for state Supreme Court on schedule after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers tried to delay it.
“@wisgop was right not to follow @GovEvers request to delay the April election and we shouldn’t delay the November
election either,” Vos said in a tweet. “Elections need to happen for democracy to function.”
Fitzgerald in a tweet said: “I don’t think we should move election dates — but I get the President’s larger point on election security issues.”
Fitzgerald is running for the congressional seat Sensenbrenner is giving up. Fitzgerald has aligned himself with both Trump and Sensenbrenner as he campaigns.
In a conference call with reporters, Evers acknowledged he tried to postpone the April election because of concerns about the spread of the coronavirus. But he said he saw Trump’s move differently and noted Republicans had panned the suggestion.
“Just bringing it up is breathtaking in and of itself,” Evers said.
Republican U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil of Janesville said in a statement: “The election will happen on November 3, 2020, and we must ensure every legal vote is counted.”
GOP U.S.Rep. Tom Tiffany of Minocqua came out against delaying the election and took a swipe at Evers along the way. Tiffany was elected this year in a special election that Evers put off for a time.
“It would be misguided to postpone the November election just as it was misguided for Governor Evers to postpone the date of my special election this spring,” Tiffany said in a statement.
Some suggested Trump is seeking to sow doubt about the election results or distract from a new government report that found a historic contraction in the nation’s economy.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore of Milwaukee said she was increasingly concerned Trump would not willingly leave office if he loses the election.
“Up until now, I have managed to be 69 years old and I have never been a conspiracy theorist until now. This man has made a believer of me,” Moore said in a conference call with reporters.
“He is signaling that he plans to interfere with any pronouncement of any results that are not favorable to him. I fully anticipate this man not leaving 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. without an escort — beyond the ceremonial escort out.”
In his tweet, Trump said mail voting would lead to fraud and an inaccurate count. Election experts and fact-checkers have called such claims wrong and Trump provided no evidence of his contention.
The date of the presidential election is set by federal law, meaning Congress, not the president, has the power to change it, according to Edward Foley, a law professor from Ohio State University and an election law expert.