On Thursday morning, President Donald J. Trump tweeted out an idea regarding potentially delaying the election. It prompted immediate backlash by local and national leaders.

Trump cited potential voter fraud from mail-in ballots due to everyone staying home from the novel coronavirus, an unsubstantiated claim that many experts have said would be unlikely.

“It’s a ploy, to begin with,” Webb County Democratic Party Chair Sylvia Bruni said. “You can’t do it because it is not in his realm of power to postpone an election. So it’s just another ploy because his approval ratings are plummeting. But what he should really pay attention to is the pandemic and do something about it, and because of it we are going to continue to suffer as he distances himself from reality.”

Webb County Republican Party Chair Bill Young believes differently, stating Trump offered a suggestion and not that he wants to fully change the way the election is held.

“My opinion is that he was just throwing it out there to see what would happen,” Young said. “I don’t really think that he means it as it was just a tweet that he put out to see what happens. There is not going to be a delay, and I don’t believe there will be any type of delay at all.”

According to Young, the election should not be pushed back as people should just practice safety protocols like good social distancing and satisfactory hygiene in efforts to make sure that they are not infected. He points out that if people can go out to shop in stores like Home Depot and others, where large numbers of people get together, then there is no need for the election to be delayed in efforts to not have large numbers of people get together.

Another area where both local party chairs differ is on the issue of mail-in voting. Young expressed concern about mail-in voting offering an easier avenue for committing fraud.

“There is always a risk of fraud when you do that as we have had fraud and risk of it here before,” Young said. “There’s too much of a problem as even in nursing homes we have had a problem where people fill out the voting forms for the nursing home residents, which is something bad even though they claim they do it because the patients are sick, and sometimes people request mail-in ballots and then go to vote and they are told that they already voted.”

According to Young, his wife was a victim of this type of mail-in voting problem when she was told she had already voted but her ballot was never received in the mail. He believes it is a problem that can be found all over the country. However, Bruni disagrees.

“There are a multitude of studies that show that mail-in voting is literally fraud free,” Bruni said. “In the course of many decades, there has only been about 300 instances of fraud in the millions of votes that have been made which shows that it is secure. He does this because he knows that if we institute a universal vote by mail, then it would be the minorities and folks that regularly do not vote will go out and vote.”

Laredo Mayor Pete Saenz also voiced concerns over the issue.

“The right to vote is sacred and integral to our democracy,” Saenz said. “The authority to change federally scheduled elections rests with Congress, and it has never been changed in our nation’s history. Therefore, citizens must make every effort to exercise their right to vote on Nov. 3 while also taking precautions during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Congressman Henry Cuellar (TX-28) also responded to the tweet and made it clear a postponement will not happen. He stressed the president does not have the authority, and also because the country has been in dire situations before and the election has never been delayed.

“America has never postponed a presidential election — not through two World Wars, a Civil War, the Spanish flu or terrorist attacks,” Congressman Cuellar said. “As a nation, we will move forward and vote this November. As a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, I helped secure $3.6 billion in the Heroes Act to help state and local governments prepare for upcoming elections by expanding vote-by-mail and early in-person voting to reduce crowding on Election Day. I urge the Senate to pass this legislation now to ensure the integrity and security of our elections.”

Cuellar said he and his colleagues will not partake in any delaying of the election even though the legislature has the sole authority of making such a move.

“The Constitution states that only Congress can change the date of our elections,” he said. “My colleagues and I in Congress will never consider changing the date of our election to accommodate the president’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. We cannot give credence to the misinformation he spreads regarding the safety and validity of voting by mail.”

While plenty of local officials weighed in, residents around the city and Webb County also voiced their mixed opinions about the suggestion. One of the main thoughts put out by citizens is that the pandemic, although serious, should not prevent people from voting.

“No postponing anything,” Claudia Ochoa-Rojas said. “Oh, now he takes the pandemic into consideration. Well, he’s 150,000 American lives late. He held his rallies, celebrations, fundraisers and went around the hard-hit states like nothing mattered. So let the show go on. We need to get rid of him. He just wants to buy time.”

Others who agree about not postponing the election said people continuing to go out shows that this is not needed, and that perhaps the only other change could be to extend the days available for people to go out and vote.

“Voting days can easily be extended,” Pedro Cortez said. “Postponing it is corrupt and not needed. Go to Walmart and everyone and their momma is out there. Voting polls do not get that crowded.”

Others said it is hypocritical that the president would like for schools to reopen fully yet in turn ask if the election should be delayed because of the pandemic.

Although a large consensus of responders believed in not delaying the election, some felt that this was an action that should be taken by Congress.

“We have bigger problems to target and focus on,” Olivera Benavides said, referencing fixing the pandemic and finding a solution so the economy and schools can reopen.

Others joked that 2020 should be postponed altogether.

“Let's postpone this year until later,” Rick Rodriguez said.

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