Donald Trump says results may take ‘years’ with mail-in voting

US President Donald Trump, who sparked a political firestorm on
Thursday after he suggested to delay the election, walked back from his
statement. He said he doesn’t want to delay the polls but counting of mailed ballots could take weeks and hamper the
results, leading to a compromised poll.

US presidential elections are schedule to be held on November 3.

“I don’t want to delay. I want to have the election. But I
also don’t want to have to wait for three months and then find out that the
ballots are all missing and the election doesn’t mean anything,” Trump
told reporters at a news conference when asked about his tweet suggesting
election be delayed.

“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which
is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in
history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until
people can properly, securely and safely vote???” he had tweeted.

He told reporters that mail-in-vote would delay the counting of
votes and election results.

“I don’t want to be waiting around for weeks and months and
literally, potentially, if you really did it right, years because you’ll never
know. These ballots are missing,” Trump said.

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Democrats are pushing for mail-in-votes. A large number of Americans are expected to opt for mail in
voting to avoid standing in line.

Trump has expressed fear that this might be rigged and the
counting of votes itself might take a long time and the results would not be
declared on the night on November 3, which normally happens.