# Could there be a reason to either cancel or postpone the US elections? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 12, 2015, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848 "2015-05-12T11:44:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/21 "2015-05-12T20:30:46Z")
> [@Bridget\_Burke](#): > > The Right Wing Nutcases are already on to that. The Jade Helm 15 military exercise is _really_ a rehearsal of for the Martial Law that Obama will impose when he cancels the election & comes for our guns. Or they are there to combat an ISIS invasion from Mexico. Or somehow both. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/22 "2015-05-12T20:41:52Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > I remember the nuttersphere “anticipating” a cancelled or postponed presidential election every four years as far back as the Clinton administrations. There may have been earlier examples but I was not as exposed to political whackadoodles before the 90s. I remember it going back to George H.W. Bush in the 80s. The funny thing is, no matter who the President is, no matter which nutjob is claiming the elections will be canceled, the one constant is that all the martial law signs and other stuff are being stockpiled at your local Wal-Mart. If the government ever falls, it won’t be because of Democrats OR Republicans. We will fall to Wal-Mart. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/23 "2015-05-12T20:58:23Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > What about a major disaster? We [had that](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy) the last presidential election. This country is big enough that any single disaster won’t take out enough of the population that it’ll be postponed. I know someone who worked for a NJ county election board, they were working by headlamp & cold coffee in the last few days before that election because Sandy took out the power for a week or so. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/24 "2015-05-12T21:00:07Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I remember it going back to George H.W. Bush in the 80s. > > The funny thing is, no matter who the President is, no matter which nutjob is claiming the elections will be canceled, the one constant is that all the martial law signs and other stuff are being stockpiled at your local Wal-Mart. > > If the government ever falls, it won’t be because of Democrats OR Republicans. We will fall to Wal-Mart. :eek: Little do you know. Martial Law was declared and GHWB is still in charge. They just make it look like he isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/25 "2015-05-12T21:17:25Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Psst. The presidential election is in 2016. > > BTW, we managed to have elections in 1940 and 1944 during World War II. If we could deal with that and have an election, I think we could cope today. Psst…there will still be special congressional elections and state gubernatorial elections in November 2015. Also pssst…the US wasn’t involved in World War II in 1940. The bombing of Pearl Harbor which precipitated the US entering the war didn’t happen until December 1941. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/26 "2015-05-12T21:20:05Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Psst…there will still be special congressional elections and state gubernatorial elections in November 2015. There are some version of elections pretty much every year. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/27 "2015-05-12T22:46:13Z")
So what \*does \*happen on election day if several states endure a blizzard or an ice storm that’s bad enough to close down the highways like back in January? November storms aren’t atypical - I know I’m not the only Doper who spent the better part of Thanksgiving day without power last year. The elections in those states would be delayed until the highways opened, and the rest of the country would have to wait until we got to vote, right? They wouldn’t say “screw it, the northeast and/or upper Midwest states don’t have many electoral college votes so we just won’t count them and call the election without their votes,” would they? ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/28 "2015-05-12T23:09:52Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I remember it going back to George H.W. Bush in the 80s. > > The funny thing is, no matter who the President is, no matter which nutjob is claiming the elections will be canceled, the one constant is that all the martial law signs and other stuff are being stockpiled at your local Wal-Mart. > > If the government ever falls, it won’t be because of Democrats OR Republicans. We will fall to Wal-Mart. :eek: Yet many of those same people implicitly trust corporations and not the government… > [@Spiderman](#): > > We [had that](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Sandy) the last presidential election. This country is big enough that any single disaster won’t take out enough of the population that it’ll be postponed. Not even the previously mentioned Yellowstone eruption? I can definitely understand why it hasn’t happened, no event happening to justify it notwithstanding. It’d set a bad precedent, even if done for self evidently justifiable reasons. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/29 "2015-05-12T23:09:53Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Thanks for the feedback. I know someone who’s insisting this will happen this year. You all have given me some information to give her. One trusts that you were already able to give her the information that the election is scheduled for _next_ year… ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/30 "2015-05-12T23:25:12Z")
We haven’t given you information, but opinion. Mark well the opinions of those predicting UN takeover of the US, gun confiscation, and suspended elections, and hold them accountable for their accuracy or lack therof. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2015, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/31 "2015-05-12T23:25:39Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > So what \*does \*happen on election day if several states endure a blizzard or an ice storm that’s bad enough to close down the highways like back in January? November storms aren’t atypical - I know I’m not the only Doper who spent the better part of Thanksgiving day without power last year. > > The elections in those states would be delayed until the highways opened, and the rest of the country would have to wait until we got to vote, right? Why? We don’t make Maine hold out to vote simultaneously with Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands, and the election can be called while polls are still open in the west coast. I _suspect_, it’s legally a matter of “you vote if you can get there”; but if a bona fide _force majeure_ life-or-death emergency forces a state or group of states to extend their voting period a couple of days rather than a couple of hours until they dig themselves out, I imagine there would be no big whoop about an emergency declaration making it official. But meanwhile Candidate A has gathered 360 electoral votes anyway, what difference does it make. And if OTOH the count for all the other states comes up to 266 for A and 262 for B before the icebound states’ returns arrive, then we’ll just have to sit and wait for it, won’t we? Just as we waited a month for hanging chads to be counted in Florida in 2000. The Electoral College vote is not officially tallied until weeks after voting day, so there can be some margin in case of a true epic cataclysm. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/32 "2015-05-13T04:04:11Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > Thanks for the feedback. I know someone who’s insisting this will happen this year. You all have given me some information to give her. You might want to stop hanging around with stupid people. They’re best left alone. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/33 "2015-05-13T04:17:20Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > > [@kunilou](#): > > > > … If the government ever falls, it won’t be because of Democrats OR Republicans. We will fall to Wal-Mart. :eek: > > Little do you know. Martial Law was declared and … I think you mean _Wal_-Martial Law. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/34 "2015-05-13T04:55:54Z")
Outside of nuclear war, where most of the electorate would be dead anyway, the sheer size of the U.S. is such that even major disasters are only regional. The only realistic continent wide disaster which I think could delay the elections would be a Spanish flu style pandemic. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/35 "2015-05-13T15:06:41Z")
I will predict RIGHT NOW, that under the direction of Obama HIMSELF, there will be NO NATIONAL PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION in November 2015!! ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/36 "2015-05-13T15:35:10Z")
The simple answer is, no, the President can’t stop elections. In the event of a natural disaster, there MIGHT be some moves to EXTEND elections, rather than to delay them But many people on both ends of the political spectrum seem to expect Presidents of the other party to scrap elections. Many wacky leftists thought Dubya would make himself dictator for life, and many right wing nuts don’t believe Obama will leave office on Jan 20, 2017… or ever. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/37 "2015-05-13T17:32:46Z")
In 1999 every wing nut with an aol account was posting about how Clinton was going to use the Y2K bug to cancel the elections. I don’t remember any about George HW Bush, but I don’t think he raised the ire of most people who had derangement over Bill Clinton, George W Bush, or Obama ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/38 "2015-05-13T18:25:53Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > I will predict RIGHT NOW, that under the direction of Obama HIMSELF, there will be NO NATIONAL PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION in November 2015!! Where did the OP claim there was a presidential election this November? ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2015, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/39 "2015-05-13T23:38:37Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Where did the OP claim there was a presidential election this November? (um, whoosh) ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848/40 "2015-05-14T00:35:50Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > Where did the OP claim there was a presidential election this November? In the very first line of his post. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-there-be-a-reason-to-either-cancel-or-postpone-the-us-elections/719848.md?page=3)