WASHINGTON • US President Donald Trump has said 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 American voters this year.
Election experts have said it might take several days after the Nov 3 vote 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, Mr Trump on Friday 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. 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."
Mr Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power has led to concerns about whether he might order US troops into any chaos around the coming elections.
"I believe deeply in the principle of an apolitical US military," General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in written answers to questions from lawmakers released last month. "In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law, US courts and the US Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the US military."
But that has not stopped an intensifying debate in the military about its role should a disputed election lead to civil unrest.
On Aug 11, retired army officers John Nagl and Paul Yingling, both Iraq War veterans, published an open letter to Gen Milley on the website Defence One. "In a few months' time, you may have to choose between defying a lawless president or betraying your constitutional oath," they wrote. "If Donald Trump refuses to leave office at the expiration of his constitutional term, the United States military must remove him by force, and you must give that order."
Pentagon officials swiftly said such an outcome was preposterous. Under no circumstances, they said, would the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff send Navy Seals or Marines to haul Mr Trump out of the White House. If necessary, such a task, Defence Department officials said, would fall to US Marshals or the Secret Service.
Opinion polls show that more Democrats than Republicans plan to vote by mail to avoid exposure to Covid-19 in crowded polling places. Mr Trump's campaign has filed lawsuits in several states to restrict mail balloting.
NYTIMES, REUTERS
