Trump: Winner Must Not Be Known for Months
WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that Americans might not know the winner of the November presidential election for months due to disputes over mail ballots, building on his criticism of a method that could be used by half of U.S. voters this year.
Election experts have said it might take several days after the Nov. 3 election until a winner is known as officials will need time to count mail ballots that arrive after election day.
Speaking at a rally in Newport News, Virginia, Trump said he would prefer to find out quickly whether he won or lost, rather than wait for the mail ballots to come in.
"I like watching television and have, ‘The winner is’, right? You might not hear it for months, because this is a mess,” he said.
"It’s very unlikely that you’re going to hear a winner that night,” he said. "I could be leading and then they’ll just keep getting ballots, and ballots, and ballots and ballots. Because now they’re saying the ballots can come in late.”
Court rulings this month have allowed officials in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina to count ballots that arrive after Nov. 3 as long as they were sent by Election Day.
Opinion polls show that more Democrats than Republicans plan to vote by mail to avoid exposure to COVID-19 in crowded polling places. Trump’s campaign has filed lawsuits in several states to restrict mail balloting.
Trump in recent days has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election to Democrat Joe Biden and has said he expects the Supreme Court will have to declare a winner.
"Well, we’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump said Wednesday when asked whether he’d commit to a peaceful transition.
Trump has previously refused to say whether he would accept the election results, echoing his sentiments from 2016.
nd he has joked -- he says -- about staying in office well past the constitutionally bound two terms.
But his refusal to guarantee a violence-free transition went further and is likely to alarm his opponents, already on edge given his deployment of federal law enforcement to quell protests in American cities.
His reluctance to commit to a peaceful transition was rooted in what he said were concerns about ballots, extending his false assertion that widespread mail-in voting is rife with fraud.
"You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster,” Trump said at a press briefing at the White House, presumably referring to mail-in ballots, which he has baselessly claimed will lead to voter fraud.
Trump has previously said his rival Joe Biden would only prevail in November if the election is "rigged,” and suggested earlier in the day it was likely the results of the election would be contested all the way to the Supreme Court.
National polls currently show Trump trailing Biden, though surveys of electoral battleground states are tighter.
Democrats have long fretted that Trump may attempt to cling to power using the authorities of the president. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested over the summer that Trump may have to be "fumigated out” of office if he refuses to accept the election results.
Trump has not sought to tamp down on speculation he won’t leave office. Asked in a Fox News interview whether he could accept the election results, he demurred.
"No. I have to see,” Trump said. "Look you -- I have to see. No, I’m not going to just say ‘yes.’ I’m not going to say ‘no.’ And I didn’t last time, either.”
Election experts have said it might take several days after the Nov. 3 election until a winner is known as officials will need time to count mail ballots that arrive after election day.
Speaking at a rally in Newport News, Virginia, Trump said he would prefer to find out quickly whether he won or lost, rather than wait for the mail ballots to come in.
"I like watching television and have, ‘The winner is’, right? You might not hear it for months, because this is a mess,” he said.
"It’s very unlikely that you’re going to hear a winner that night,” he said. "I could be leading and then they’ll just keep getting ballots, and ballots, and ballots and ballots. Because now they’re saying the ballots can come in late.”
Court rulings this month have allowed officials in the battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and North Carolina to count ballots that arrive after Nov. 3 as long as they were sent by Election Day.
Opinion polls show that more Democrats than Republicans plan to vote by mail to avoid exposure to COVID-19 in crowded polling places. Trump’s campaign has filed lawsuits in several states to restrict mail balloting.
Trump in recent days has refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the election to Democrat Joe Biden and has said he expects the Supreme Court will have to declare a winner.
"Well, we’re going to have to see what happens,” Trump said Wednesday when asked whether he’d commit to a peaceful transition.
Trump has previously refused to say whether he would accept the election results, echoing his sentiments from 2016.
nd he has joked -- he says -- about staying in office well past the constitutionally bound two terms.
But his refusal to guarantee a violence-free transition went further and is likely to alarm his opponents, already on edge given his deployment of federal law enforcement to quell protests in American cities.
His reluctance to commit to a peaceful transition was rooted in what he said were concerns about ballots, extending his false assertion that widespread mail-in voting is rife with fraud.
"You know that I’ve been complaining very strongly about the ballots and the ballots are a disaster,” Trump said at a press briefing at the White House, presumably referring to mail-in ballots, which he has baselessly claimed will lead to voter fraud.
Trump has previously said his rival Joe Biden would only prevail in November if the election is "rigged,” and suggested earlier in the day it was likely the results of the election would be contested all the way to the Supreme Court.
National polls currently show Trump trailing Biden, though surveys of electoral battleground states are tighter.
Democrats have long fretted that Trump may attempt to cling to power using the authorities of the president. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested over the summer that Trump may have to be "fumigated out” of office if he refuses to accept the election results.
Trump has not sought to tamp down on speculation he won’t leave office. Asked in a Fox News interview whether he could accept the election results, he demurred.
"No. I have to see,” Trump said. "Look you -- I have to see. No, I’m not going to just say ‘yes.’ I’m not going to say ‘no.’ And I didn’t last time, either.”