2020 ELECTION/POLLS: “President Trump, who is trailing badly in polling of the race for the White House, suggested on Thursday [July 30] that the Nov. 3 general election be delayed ‘until people can properly, securely and safely vote…’
But the president does not have the authority to move the date of a federal election…
Article II of the Constitution empowers Congress to choose the timing of the general election. An 1845 federal law fixed the date as the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
It would take a change in federal law to move that date. That would mean legislation enacted by Congress, signed by the president and subject to challenge in the courts.”
-Alexander Burns, “Why Trump Has No Power to Delay the 2020 Election,” nytimes.com, July 30, 2020