‘Not the time to act in fear.’ Top Kansas election official rejects Trump’s idea
President Donald Trump’s suggestion that the November election could be delayed faced swift backlash Thursday from members of both parties, including Kansas’ top election official and the Missouri senator whose committee handles election-related legislation.
Kansas Secretary of State Scott Schwab, a Johnson County Republican, was among the first GOP officials nationally to forcefully reject Trump’s idea and he called on the state’s congressional delegation to do the same.
“In Kansas, we have implemented measures to ensure the security and safety of the August and November elections. We respectfully ask the Kansas delegation to not support any delay to the November election,” Schwab said in a statement. “Now is not the time to act in fear but to show the world we are courageous.”
Trump claimed, without evidence, on Twitter Thursday morning that the 2020 election “will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history” because of mail voting.
“It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”
Delaying the election would require an act of Congress since the date — the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November — is enshrined in federal law.
The Democratic-controlled U.S. House is unlikely to indulge the idea. And Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Missouri, made clear Thursday afternoon that it would get no traction in the GOP-dominated U.S. Senate either.
“The United States held elections during the Civil War, the 1918 pandemic, and World War II. There is no justification for changing the date of the upcoming November elections,” said Blunt, a member Senate GOP leadership who chairs the Senate Rules Committee, which is responsible for election legislation.
Trump votes by mail
Trump has repeatedly attacked mail voting despite the fact that he votes by mail in Florida, as have several members of his administration, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, a Kansas Republican.
“I believe I have voted by absentee ballot. I think while I was a soldier and I also think when I was a member of Congress I did a couple times as well,” Pompeo told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday morning.
Pompeo drew a distinction between states, such as Kansas, where voting by mail is an option, and states, such as Oregon, where voting by mail is the only option, but he said, he would “leave it to the professionals to identify the level of risk associated with that.”
Trump has claimed a distinction between absentee and mail-in voting, but these are both terms used to describe sending your ballot through the Postal Service.
Kansas has allowed voters to cast ballots by mail for any reason since 1996. In each presidential election since, the state has gone to the Republican nominee. The last time Kansas voted for a Democrat was 1964, when Lyndon Johnson carried the state.
Kansas election offices have already sent out more 314,00 mail ballots for the August 4 primary, the demand heightened by the pandemic. It is more than six times the number at this point in 2016 or 2018. Nearly 140,000 have already been returned to election offices ahead of the primary.
‘Easy and safe’
Unlike Kansas, Missouri makes slight legal distinction between absentee voting and mail-in voting after passing a law this year to allow more votes by mail. Anyone can request a mail-in ballot under the new law, but it must be notarized. Absentee ballots, on the other hand, require an excuse but need not be notarized.
Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft said in a phone call late Thursday that he’s not a fan of the expansion of mail-in voting, but he doesn’t think the election needs to be delayed.
“I’m confident in the work we’re all doing to prepare for August and November elections,” Ashcroft said.
Ashcroft’s office said statewide there have been more than 200,000 requests for absentee or mail-in ballots.
The first member of the Kansas delegation to confirm she would oppose any effort to delay the election was Rep. Sharice Davids, the state’s sole Democrat who has been a vocal supporter of mail voting.
“The President does not have the power to delay the November election — only Congress does. His claims about mail-in voting have been debunked time and time again and this tweet only serves to undermine people’s faith in our elections,” Davids said in a statement.
“Kansans and people across the country can rest assured that voting by mail is an easy and safe way to cast your ballot and make your voice heard.”
Sen. Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican who is not seeking re-election, affirmed his agreement with Schwab Thursday afternoon.
“There are few things nowadays that Americans can count on. Election Day is one of those. We should not postpone,” Roberts said in a statement.
Sen. Jerry Moran’s office confirmed the Kansas Republican does not support moving the election.
The rest of the Republicans in the Kansas delegation — Reps. Ron Estes, Roger Marshall and Steve Watkins — did not respond to emails. Both Watkins and Marshall are in close GOP primary races, where Trump’s support could help determine the nominee.
This story was originally published July 30, 2020 at 12:27 PM with the headline "‘Not the time to act in fear.’ Top Kansas election official rejects Trump’s idea."
