Trump floats delaying Nov. election; only Congress can change date

July 30 (UPI) — Calling mail-in elections “ripe for fraud,” President Donald Trump suggested on Twitter Thursday delaying the Nov. 3 presidential election during the coronavirus pandemic.

Under the U.S. Constitution, only Congress can change the date of the general presidential election. “With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” Trump tweeted Thursday. “It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly securely and safely vote???”

Mail-in ballots have played a critical role during the primary elections because of coronavirus restrictions that have limited the number of polling places around the country.

Colorado, Hawaii, Oregon, Utah and Washington already offer mail-in ballots for all of its elections, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Trump’s Democratic challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, said in April he feared Trump would try to delay the election.

“Mark my words, I think he is going to try to kick back the election somehow, come up with some rationale why it can’t be held,” Biden said in an online fundraiser.

Legal experts have said there no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the United States, either by mail or in person.