FACT FOCUS: Trump's ‘Big Beautiful Bill' does not let him delay or cancel elections

Winnipeg Free Press

2 days ago

Social media users are falsely claiming that President Donald Trump's sprawling tax bill, which passed the Senate Tuesday after a turbulent overnight session, will give Trump undue influence over U.S. elections.
'The reason the GOP isn't concerned about the midterms and why they are pushing this bill is because it gives Trump power to cancel elections,' reads one X post. 'If this bill passes — it's the end of the country. Democracy is over.'
The bill contains no such provision. Here's a closer look at the facts.
CLAIM: President Donald Trump's tax bill will allow him to delay or cancel elections.
THE FACTS: That's false. There is nothing in the legislation that would allow Trump, or any future president, to stop an election from going forward. According to legal experts, a constitutional amendment would have to pass for anyone to have the ability to cancel a federal election. The timing of elections for federal offices is stipulated in federal law and it is highly unlikely that Congress would pass a bill allowing the president to change that timing, experts said.
'Although President Trump might like to cancel or postpone an upcoming election if he thought his party was going to fare poorly, the One Big Beautiful Bill does not actually grant him that power,' said Barry Burden, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Elections Research Center and a political science professor.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson called the false claims 'obviously fake news.'
Burden and other experts agree that these allegations may stem from a misunderstanding of a section of the bill on judicial enforcement that was included in the version passed by the House. That section was removed from the bill after Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that it violates the so-called Byrd Rule, which essentially bars policy matters in budget reconciliation bills.
Section 70302 could have made it easier for Trump to disregard federal court rulings, requiring parties seeking preliminary injunctions or temporary restraining orders to put down a 'security,' such as a cash bond, before the court could issue contempt penalties.
Regardless, such a provision would not allow Trump to delay or cancel elections, even if he tried.
'If Trump announced, I'm canceling the elections, that has as much power as my announcing I'm canceling the elections,' said Justin Levitt, a professor at Loyola Marymount University who specializes in constitutional law and the law of democracy.
Asked whether section 70302 would have given Trump power over whether elections occur, Richard Pildes, a professor of constitutional law at New York University, replied, 'Obviously not.'
The U.S. Constitution gives state legislatures the power to set the time of elections, subject to any laws Congress enacts that 'make or alter such Regulations.'
Congress set standard federal election dates with a series of laws, starting in 1845. That year, it was determined that states would choose presidential electors 'the Tuesday next after the first Monday in the month of November.' Presidential elections have been held every four years on this day since 1848, including through the Civil War, World War I and World War II. Congress aligned House elections with presidential races in 1872 and in 1914 aligned the election of Senators with biennial House elections.
The Constitution states that the term for president and vice president is four years, the term for senators is six years and the term for representatives is two years. Unless they are reelected, there is no mechanism for any of these officials to remain in office after their term ends. Only a constitutional amendment could change this.
Some states have a provision that allows voting in federal races to continue after Election Day in 'extraordinary and catastrophic' circumstances, such as a natural disaster. There is no other way to delay a federal election.
Levitt explained that theoretically Congress could pass a law giving the president the power to choose when a federal election happens, but that such a scenario is 'extremely unlikely.' ___
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