Officials discuss how to delay Election Day

Talks stem from recent fears of terror attack timed to vote

 

 

 

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. officials have discussed the idea of postponing Election Day in the event of a terrorist attack on or about that day, a Homeland Security Department spokesman said Sunday.

 

The department has referred questions about the matter to the Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel, said a spokesman, confirming a report in this week's editions of Newsweek magazine.

 

Bush's national security adviser Condoleezza Rice tried to put an end to the controversy Monday evening.

 

"We've had elections in this country when we were at war, even when we were in civil war, and we should have the elections on time. That's the view of the president. That's the view of the administration," she said. "No one is thinking of postponing the elections."

 

Newsweek said the discussions about whether the November 2 election could be postponed started with a recent letter to Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge from DeForest Soaries Jr., chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

 

The commission was set up after the disputed 2000 presidential vote to help states deal with logistical problems in their elections.

 

Soaries, who was appointed by President Bush, is a former New Jersey secretary of state and senior pastor of the 7,000-member First Baptist Church of Lincoln Gardens in Somerset.

 

Newsweek reported that Soaries expressed concern that no federal agency had the authority to postpone an election and asked Ridge to ask Congress to give his commission such power.

 

Ridge warned Thursday that al Qaeda terrorists were planning a large-scale attack on the United States "in an effort to disrupt the democratic process." (Full story)

 

Ridge said he had no specific or credible information about threats to the political conventions. The four-day Democratic convention kicks off July 26 in Boston, Massachusetts, and the Republican National Convention begins August 30 in New York City.

 

Ridge also said the nation's color-coded terrorist threat level would remain at yellow, or elevated.

 

Democratic Rep. Jane Harman of California, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that she believes planning for the possibility of postponing Election Day is "excessive, based on what we know."

 

"Six days ago, the leadership of the House and Senate intelligence committees and leadership of the House and Senate were briefed on these so-called new threats," Harman said on CNN's "Late Edition."

 

"They are more chatter about old threats, which were the subject of a press conference by Attorney General [John] Ashcroft and [FBI] Director [Robert] Mueller six weeks ago.

 

"[Ridge] sounded more like an interior decorator talking about what more we can do under the shade of yellow," she said.

 

The news that such discussions have taken place raised other eyebrows on Capitol Hill as well.

 

"I don't think there's an argument that can be made, for the first time in our history, to delay an election," said Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a member of the intelligence committee.

 

"We hold elections in the middle of war, in the middle of earthquakes, in the middle of whatever it takes. The election is a statutory election. It should go ahead, on schedule, and we should not change it."

 

But the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Christopher Cox of California, said on "Late Edition" that he sees Ridge's request as part of a prudent effort to plan for "doomsday scenarios."

 

"We don't have any intelligence to suggest that it is going to happen, but we're preparing for all of these contingencies now," Cox said.

 

Noting that New York election officials were able to postpone their September 11, 2001, primary election after terrorists slammed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center, Cox said "there isn't any body that has that authority to do that for federal elections."

 

"So what Secretary Ridge has asked the Justice Department to do is, 'Give me a legal memo, tell me what will be necessary. Do we need to go to Congress and get legislation?' "

 

What has Homeland Security officials worried is that terrorists could attempt to disrupt the election in the same way that train bombings in Madrid created unrest three days before the Spanish general election, the Homeland Security spokesman said.

 

Although there is no evidence that the bombings influenced the March 11 vote, socialist Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero unseated Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, whose center-right government supported the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

 

The country's new government then pulled Spanish troops from Iraq.

 

Find this article at:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/07/11/election.day.delay

The spain scenario was more the fact that Aznar's party tried to pin the attack on the ETA, even though it was clear it was linked with Al-qaeda. I guess it didnt matter to the spanirds that the ETA often trains with Al-qaeda operatives, and attacks in spain have been pccuring long before the war in iraq

Bush plans to postpone the election for another 4 years. Then 4 years from now, it is "too dangerous" to have an election and it is poushed another 4 years...then a Dick Cheney robot becomes dictator of America.

Bush plans to postpone the election for another 4 years. Then 4 years from now, it is "too dangerous" to have an election and it is poushed another 4 years...then a Dick Cheney robot becomes dictator of America.

457815[/snapback]

 

I'd laugh, but it sounds quite likely.

 

:confused

Bush plans to postpone the election for another 4 years.? Then 4 years from now, it is "too dangerous" to have an election and it is poushed another 4 years...then a Dick Cheney robot becomes dictator of America.

457815[/snapback]

 

I'd laugh, but it sounds quite likely.

 

:confused

457836[/snapback]

 

 

If you actually think thats going to happen in this country, you're either crazy or stupid. Thats why we have the right to form militias and own guns, in the case soemhting radical like that should ever happen.

I agree. I plan on buying historical weaponry when I settle down, like a AK 47. It does the job and I don't have to register it, so the government won't know I have it.

 

I do think the violence should be a last resort, not a first. People should try pulling a Gahndi (sp) for a while.

I'm more of an M16 fan myself. Well at first the people of the U.S. would try to resist this type of govt control, but what I fear most is not govt control latin america style where they hold off elections, in fact I fear govt little by little implementing more and more SOCIAL control, to the point where we cant decide what schools we want to go to or what doctors we want.

What I think is hysterical is that if the date were changed, how would everyone know? Would they send e-mails to everyone? Kinda like a treasure hunt?

 

If they changed the date of the elections, wouldn't the terrorist cells find out as well?

 

 

Duh!

phoenix, if you moved elections up from tuesday to monday or sunday...the logistics aren't too hard and all planning for terror is gone.

Alot of people are going to vote absentee due to travel and time constraints this year. Why don't they just have everyone vote absentee or mail-in like they do in Oregon and Washington.

Yeah, I bet the terrorists want to delay the elections, that way Bush can hunt them down longer.