Posted on 07/11/2004 9:00:19 AM PDT by ZeitgeistSurfer
It didn't need to be postponed in 1944.
It didn't need to be postponed in 1864.
Why is it suddenly so necessary?
Postpone the election?!
Muttly so not afraid of Al and O'Sama he intends to go out and vote at least twice.
Me show them.
LOL - Well we could teach them how to pry open an envelope before November couldn't we? Might be a learning experience for the election people - working hard I mean.
Besides - I'm waiting to become a citizen and if I don't get to vote in November, I am gonna be one unhappy camper!
This is gonna be my big day this year and nothing is going to stop me from casting my ballot!
No matter how it has to be done and on which day... This country I know and love will find a way to keep things running, as they have for hundreds of years before.
Amen. We should make it clear to our congresscritters: even TALKING about postponing is giving the terrorists sway over what free Americans choose to do. No way, no how!
"All it takes is an EO. Johnson considered this option in 1968."
And there were some fears that Clinton might give it a shot, also.
The Constitution of the USofA already has this problem solved. The voters don't select a President, the Electoral College does. The State Legislatures choose the electors that will choose the President. In order to disrupt this election they would have to go to every state legislature in early December and disrupt. That is all 50 states! The electors chosen by the State Legislatures would meet and vote for a President and Vice President. The process will proceed to January 20, 2005 when George Bush will be sworn in as the next President of the USofA.
Clinton never had a valid reason, or the loyalty of the military.
There is both in this scenario.
I don’t quite recall the reason it was feared that Clinton might use the authority. Was it Kosovo?
The option was rumored often to be on the back-burner. One has to remember his Administration was always paranoid, especially around the time of OKC.
The post-2000 election fiasco would have been the time to move, but he didn't. Never thought he would--he being too much the coward, also to make that kind of move it would have to be in a situation where there was total chaos (like 1968 seemed in retrospect veering into).
If the election is postponed it will be the Democrats that ask for it.
Articled II Section I
The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term...
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.
The Congress may determine the Time of chusing the Electors, and the Day on which they shall give their Votes; which Day shall be the same throughout the United States.
***
Per US Code, at 3 USC 7, the day of choosing the electors is set at the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and the date the Electors meet is set at the first Monday following the second Wednesday in December - in 2000, these dates are November 7 and December 18.
http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_elec.html
***
Also see Amendment XII which changes election procedures in Article II.
***
(Note that the US constitution makes no provision for the election of the President by popular vote of the citizenry, and that the method of choosing the electors is left to the States. The States have legislated popular elections of the President, however it remains the electors who actually elect the President. Technically, the Federal Govt would have to amend the constitution in order to direct the States on how the States will choose their electors. However, given the precedent set in 2000, adhereing to the constitution in regard to election procedures seems irrelevant to the Federal Legislature, Judiciary, and Executive branches.)
If this were to happen, whichever party or government leader "in charge" at the time might as well pack up and leave as they'd never be elected to anything again. Postponing and election would probably require the implementation of Martial Law to quell the protests that it would cause. Think back to the closing of banks after the stock market crash, but on a larger scale. It would be just like a suspension of the constitution.
Before making wild speculations about Isikoff's funding sources, perhaps it would be wise to read some of his work.
Try this article for example:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5335853/site/newsweek/
No there is no valid reason.
No US presidential election has ever been postponed.
Abraham Lincoln was urged by some aides to suspend the election of 1864 - during the US Civil War - but despite the expectation that he would lose, he refused.
"The election is a necessity," Lincoln said. "We cannot have a free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forgo, or postpone, a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered us."
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