Will The US Presidential Election Happen In November? Trump Adviser Jared Kushner Suggests Possible Delay

Presidential son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner says he cannot rule out delaying the Nov. 3 general election if the coronavirus is still raging across the country but later back pedaled, saying he wasn’t party to such discussions.

Federal law requires the general election to be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November – Nov. 3 this year.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 82,000 U.S. residents had died as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an interview with Time magazine, Kushner said he could not “commit one way or the other” on whether the election would be held as scheduled but “that’s the plan.”

“Hopefully by the time we get to September, October, November, we’ve done enough work with testing and with all the different things we’re trying to do to prevent a future outbreak of the magnitude that would make us shut down again,” Kushner said. “I really believe that once America opens up, it’ll be very hard for America to ever lock down again.”

The remarks let to a Twitter firestorm under the hashtag #KushnerIsAnIdiot, many laced with profanities.

Kushner later issued a statement saying he was unaware of any “discussions” about postponing the election.

It is not up to the executive branch to decide whether an election can take place. The Constitution says Congress “may determine the time” of the election in Article II, Section 1.

“The text of the Constitution does not appear to contain a constitutional role for the Executive Branch in such decisions,” the Congressional Research Service has determined.

There was no immediate comment from former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, to Kushner’s remarks. He said in April, however, he was concerned an effort to delay balloting would be made.

“Mark my words I think he [President Trump] is gonna try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held,” Biden said.

Republicans have been fighting a Democratic push to expand mail-in voting to avoid requiring Americans to crowd into polling places Trump has come out against the push, raising the specter of election fraud.

“I think a lot of people cheat with mail-in voting,” Trump said, adding, “It should be, you go to a booth and you proudly display yourself.”