U.S. Won't Delay November Elections, Official Says
Tue Jul 13, 2004 05:48 PM ET
By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will not cancel or suspend the presidential election this November in the event of a terror attack or other catastrophic event, the government's top elections official said on Tuesday.

Individual states may suspend or reschedule elections if disaster strikes, but that would not change voting in other states, said DeForest Soaries, chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.

"I can't conceive of any circumstances under which a presidential election could be postponed or canceled," Soaries told reporters after a commission hearing.

Newsweek reported on Sunday that Bush administration officials were looking at what legal steps would be needed to delay the election in case of an attack.

The United States has never postponed a presidential election even during national crises like the Civil War.

"We should get the word out that if something happens in a state that is not yours, you should vote," Soaries added.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge warned last week that Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda militant group may attack the United States to try to disrupt the Nov. 2 presidential election.

New York state postponed a primary election for two weeks after Al Qaeda slammed two hijacked jetliners into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.

Election Assistance Commissioner Ray Martinez said he believed the Constitution gave states the power to reschedule presidential elections or even appoint electors directly in case of emergency.

Soaries said the commission planned to meet with officials from the Department of Homeland Security next week to discuss how to handle an election-day attack. The commission was also gathering information from individual states to see if they had plans in place.

The commission also adopted a "tool kit" to help local officials avoid glitches on Election Day like those that led to a recount battle in Florida in 2000.

The 73-page document provides guidelines for minimizing problems with the punch-card machines that figured prominently in Florida, along with other vote-tallying machines, including the new touch-screen systems that have drawn criticism from computer-security experts.

It should be available on the commission's Web site within the next week, Commissioner Paul DeGregorio said.