Campaign backtracks on US election date

WASHINGTON: The White House and Donald Trump’s campaign yesterday sought to shut down the Republican president’s musings on delaying the 2020 vote, saying there will be an election for the presidency on November 3.

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Trump was raising concerns about mailin ballots when he floated the idea of delaying the vote.

‘‘We’re going to hold an election on November 3 and the president is going to win,’’ Meadows said on CBS’ Face the Nation.

Presidential campaign adviser Jason Miller echoed the sentiment on Fox News Sunday, saying, ‘‘The election is going to be on November 3rd and President Trump wants the election to be on November 3rd.’’

Trump on Friday suggested delaying the elections, an idea immediately rejected by both Democrats and his fellow Republicans in Congress — the sole branch of government with the authority to make such a change.

Critics and even Trump’s allies dismissed the notion as an unserious attempt to distract from devastating economic news, but some legal experts warned that his repeated attacks could undermine his supporters’ faith in the election process.

The Republican president has been trying to undermine confidence in mailin balloting, claiming repeatedly and without evidence that it would lead to widespread voter fraud.

Meadows took up his boss’s cause yesterday, warning that mailin ballots must be handled properly, without providing evidence that they have not been in the past.

The coronavirus crisis is expected to drive a surge in mail voting in November. State election officials are working to ensure tens of millions of ballots can reach voters in time to be cast and returned in time to be counted. — Reuters