President Donald Trump has been reported to have plans to announce himself the winner of the U.S. presidential election by midnight on election day.
He was reported to have told confidants that he will baselessly declare ‘victory’ on election night if it looks like he’s ahead in key states, Axios reports.
Trump’s plan appears connected to a broader GOP strategy to undermine the election outcome by making it illegal to count votes quickly, then delegitimizing votes counted after Nov. 3.
“The Election should end on November 3rd, not weeks later,” Trump tweeted recently.
Even if more Americans vote for Biden, Trump may appear to have a lead on November 3 because the majority of his supporters plan to vote on Election Day, whereas nearly 70% of Biden voters are expected to have voted by mail.
Mail ballots take substantially longer to count, with several processes done by hand.
In the battleground states of WI, MI, and PA, GOP legislatures have made it illegal to begin counting mail ballots early.
No laws back up Trump’s claim that the election should end on November 3.
Ballots are legally counted after election day in all 50 states and no state reports final results or certifies the winner on election day.
In 29 states, military ballots can be received after election day, and in 18 states, ballots that arrive after election day are counted, per state law.
It is common for the presidential winner to not be projected by midnight on election night; that’s happened in 1960, 1968, 1976, 2000, 2004, and even 2016, when Trump won.